Seas and Shores -A Sea Turtle's Journey

Sea Turtles are one of my favorite ocean dwellers. These peaceful creatures have roamed our oceans for around 230 million years. Sea turtles are large air-breathing reptiles. There is a total of 7 species, including the flatback, loggerhead, leatherback, hawksbill, green, Kemp's ridley, and Olive ridley. These sea creatures are a real help in maintaining marine ecosystems. Sea turtles graze in seagrass meadows, keeping them well kept (underwater gardeners) and controlling certain populations in the reef, e.g., jellyfish. These creatures are really important, but what makes them really special is their life cycle.

Our story begins on a white sand beach. The moonlight sky shining above is filled with an array of stars, the air is cool, and a female sea turtle arrives at shore after a long, restless journey. As the female turtle moves across the shore reaching past the high tide line ,she begins to dig a body pit to rest after the long journey preparing herself to lay eggs, as the night stretches and dusk approaches nesting begins (nesting and laying take place during the early hours to avoid heatstroke and predators and also to minimize the distance they must crawl across the sands)the female begins to dig the nest using her hind flippers as shovels to create a nest chamber. During nesting the female lays between 80-200 eggs. The Olive Ridley project has stated that “During nesting the female turtle enters a trance like state. “The average size of an egg is about the size of a ping pong ball and has a soft shell to prevent it from breaking this soft shell also allows oxygen exchange. After the female has finished laying all her eggs, she will fill the chamber to camouflage it from predators. Once she is finished, she will return to the waters.

Sea turtle incubation lasts about 60 days, the temperature plays a vital role during this period, it is the temperature of the sand which controls the speed of which these embryos develop. It is also the temperature which determines the sex of the sea turtle, if the nesting sands are above 31 Celsius eggs will hatch as females but below 27.7 Celsius as male. Due to climate change the male to female ratio of sea turtles are severely affected studies have shown as the sea turtle conservancy states 99% of green sea turtles around Raine Island Australia were found to be female.

Hatchlings use a temporary tooth structure called a caruncle to break out of their shells and slowly move up the sand. A sea turtle hatchlings journey from shore to sea is one of its most important and perilous journeys. Hatchlings usually emerge at night to avoid predators and often make their way to the ocean by relying on moonlight to guide them. Artificial lights from cities near hatching sites are a big problem because they often disorientate sea turtle hatchlings. From when sea turtles hatch and reach the waters for the first time and until they reach the ocean waters to grow and forage becomes known as juveniles.

After around 10-50 years after hatching (depending on the species) as SEE TURTLES state a sea turtle reaches an age of maturity and can mate. Females generally come ashore to nest in the area they were born.

Sea Turtles are wonderful resilient creatures, but they face many threats, many of those caused by humans. These include longline fisheries, this causes mass injuries and deaths of sea turtles after being accidently caught in fishing gear. Artificial lighting which was previously touched on disorientates hatchlings. Trawl fisheries, this is the cause of death of thousands of sea turtles per year by commercial fishing. Another common mistake is plastic pollution especially plastic bags, sea turtles often mistake them for jellyfish which they love snacking on and this often leads to a number of deaths. There are many more threats that these animals face which it is very important that we educate ourselves and protect these creatures.

There are many conservation efforts surrounding sea turtles and organizations such as the sea turtle conservancy, turtle foundation, marine conservation society and many more.

There are also many ways that we can help such as supporting these organizations, using reusable water bottles and shopping bags, refrain from releasing balloons, leaving litter on beaches and most importantly spread awareness. These creatures are incredibly important and deserve our protection and care.