Loggerhead sea turtle

Caretta caretta

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Family: Cheloniidae
Genus: Caretta
Species: Caretta caretta

The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) is named for its massive head and powerful jaws, built for crushing hard-shelled prey. It has a reddish-brown shell and yellowish skin.

Adults typically reach 80-100 cm in shell length and weigh 80-150 kg. Loggerheads feed on crabs, conchs, clams, sea urchins and other hard-shelled animals, and they make some of the longest migrations of any sea turtle, crossing entire ocean basins. The species is listed as Vulnerable.

Loggerheads occur in temperate and tropical seas worldwide, but they are rare in the Philippines. Most records here come from bycatch and strandings, with very little nesting, so they are seldom seen by divers.

Photo: Olly Morgan, CC0 1.0, via iNaturalist