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PDF Version of Factsheet - 126KB

Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta

caretta)

Graphic Credit - NOAA, Jack Javech

FAMILY: Cheloniidae

STATUS: Threatened throughout its range (Federal Register, July 28, 1978). See

Federal Register Notice of 2010 Proposed Changes.

DESCRIPTION: The loggerhead is characterized by a large head with blunt jaws.

The carapace and flippers are a reddish-brown color; the plastron is yellow. The

carapace has five pairs of costal scutes with the first touching the nuchal scute.

There are three large inframarginal scutes on each of the bridges between the

plastron and carapace. Adults grow to an average weight of about 200 pounds. The

species feeds on mollusks, crustaceans, fish, and other marine animals.

REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT: The United States nesting season

extends from about May through August with nesting occurring primarily at night.

Loggerheads are known to nest from one to seven times within a nesting season

(mean is about 4.1 nests per season) at intervals of approximately 14 days. Mean

clutch size varies from about 100 to 126 along the southeastern United States

coast. Incubation ranges from about 45 to 95 days, depending on incubation

temperatures, but averages 55 to 60 days for most clutches in Florida. Hatchlings

generally emerge at night. Remigration intervals of 2 to 3 years are most common in

nesting loggerheads, but remigration can vary from 1 to 7 years. Age at sexual

maturity is believed to be about 20 to 30 years.

RANGE AND POPULATION LEVEL: The loggerhead sea turtle occurs throughout

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 Federal Register

Notices

 Regional FiveYear Reviews

However, the majority of loggerhead nesting is at the western rims of the Atlantic

and Indian oceans. The most recent reviews show that only two loggerhead nesting

beaches have greater than 10,000 females nesting per year: South Florida (U.S.)

and Masirah (Oman). Those beaches with 1,000 to 9,999 females nesting each year

are North Florida through North Carolina (U.S.), Cape Verde Islands (Cape Verde,

eastern Atlantic off Africa), and Western Australia (Australia). Smaller nesting

aggregations with 100 to 999 nesting females annually occur in Northwest Florida

(U.S.), Cay Sal Bank (Bahamas), Quintana Roo and Yucatán (Mexico), Sergipe and

Northern Bahia (Brazil), Southern Bahia to Rio de Janerio (Brazil), Tongaland

(South Africa), Mozambique, Arabian Sea Coast (Oman), Halaniyat Islands (Oman),

Cyprus, Peloponnesus (Greece), Island of Zakynthos (Greece), Turkey, and

Queensland (Australia). Although the major nesting concentrations in the United

States are found in South Florida, loggerheads nest from Texas to Virginia. Total

estimated nesting in the U.S. is approximately 68,000 to 90,000 nests/year. About

80 percent of loggerhead nesting in the southeastern U.S. occurs in six Florida

counties (Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach, and Broward

Counties). Adult loggerheads are known to make considerable migrations between

foraging areas and nesting beaches. During non-nesting years, adult females from

U.S. beaches are distributed in waters off the eastern U.S. and throughout the Gulf

of Mexico, Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and Yucatán.

Genetic research involving analysis of mitochondrial DNA has identified five

different loggerhead nesting subpopulations in the western North Atlantic: (1) the

Northern Subpopulation occurring from North Carolina through Northeast Florida;

(2) South Florida Subpopulation occurring from just north of Cape Canaveral on

Florida’s east coast and extending up to around Sarasota on Florida’s west coast;

(3) Dry Tortugas, Florida, Subpopulation, (4) Northwest Florida Subpopulation

occurring on Florida’s Panhandle beaches; and (5) Yucatán Subpopulation

occurring on the eastern Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. These data indicate that gene

flow between these five regions is very low. If nesting females are extirpated from

one of these regions, regional dispersal will not be sufficient to replenish the

depleted nesting subpopulation. The South Florida Subpopulation has shown

significant increases over the last 25 years, indicating that the population has

progressed toward recovery. However, an analysis of nesting data for the years

1989-2002, a period encompassing index surveys that are more consistent than

surveys in previous years, has shown no detectable trend. Past increases in South

Florida loggerhead nesting are likely to have slowed. No long-term trends are

available for the Northern Subpopulation, although researchers have documented

substantial declines in nesting on some beaches since the early 1970s. From 1989-

1998, no nesting trends were detectable for North Carolina, South Carolina, or

Georgia. However, nests in Northeast Florida may be increasing, although data

were too variable to detect a significant trend. Nesting surveys in the Dry Tortugas,

Northwest Florida, and Yucatán Subpopulations have been too irregular to date to

allow for a meaningful trend analysis.

HABITAT: The loggerhead is widely distributed within its range. It may be found

hundreds of miles out to sea, as well as in inshore areas such as bays, lagoons, salt

marshes, creeks, ship channels, and the mouths of large rivers. Coral reefs, rocky

places, and ship wrecks are often used as feeding areas. Loggerheads nest on

ocean beaches and occasionally on estuarine shorelines with suitable sand. Nests

are typically made between the high tide line and the dune front. Most loggerhead

hatchlings originating from U.S. beaches are believed to lead a pelagic existence in

the North Atlantic gyre for an extended period of time, perhaps as long as 10 to 12

years, and are best known from the eastern Atlantic near the Azores and Madeira.

Post-hatchlings have been found floating at sea in association with Sargassum

rafts. Once they reach a certain size, these juvenile loggerheads begin recruiting to

coastal areas in the western Atlantic where they become benthic feeders in lagoons,

estuaries, bays, river mouths, and shallow coastal waters. These juveniles occupy

coastal feeding grounds for a decade or more before maturing and making their first

reproductive migration, the females returning to their natal beach to nest.

 Office Directory

 Southeast

Region Contacts

RANGE AND POPULATION LEVEL: The loggerhead sea turtle occurs throughout

the temperate and tropical regions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

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REASONS FOR CURRENT STATUS: Threats include loss or degradation of

nesting habitat from coastal development and beach armoring; disorientation of

hatchlings by beachfront lighting; excessive nest predation by native and non-native

predators; degradation of foraging habitat; marine pollution and debris; watercraft

strikes; disease; and incidental take from channel dredging and commercial

trawling, longline, and gill net fisheries. There is particular concern about the

extensive incidental take of juvenile loggerheads in the eastern Atlantic by longline

fishing vessels from several countries.

MANAGEMENT AND PROTECTION: In the Southeast United States, major nest

protection efforts and beach habitat protection are underway for most of the

significant nesting areas, and significant progress has been made in reducing

mortality from commercial fisheries in U.S. waters with the enforcement of turtle

excluder device regulations. Many coastal counties and communities in Florida,

Georgia, and South Carolina have developed lighting ordinances to reduce

hatchling disorientations. Important U.S. nesting beaches have been and continue

to be acquired for long-term protection. The migratory nature of loggerheads

severely compromises these efforts once they move outside U.S. waters, however,

since legal and illegal fisheries activities in some countries are causing high

mortality on loggerhead sea turtle nesting populations of the western north Atlantic

region. Due to the long range migratory movements of sea turtles between nesting

beaches and foraging areas, long-term international cooperation is absolutely

essential for recovery and stability of nesting populations.

SUGGESTED REFERENCES:

Bowen, B., J.C. Avise, J.I. Richardson, A.B. Meylan, D. Margaritoulis, and S.R.

Hopkins-Murphy. 1993. Population structure of loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta)

in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Conservation Biology 7

(4):834-844.

Dodd, C.K., Jr. 1988. Synopsis of the biological data on the loggerhead sea turtle

Caretta caretta (Linnaeus 1758). Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Report 88(14).

110pp.

Eckert, K.L., K.A. Bjorndal, F.A. Abreu-Grobois, and M. Donnelly (eds.). 1999.

Research and Management Techniques for the Conservation of Sea Turtles.

IUCN/SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group Publication No. 4. 235pp.

Ehrhart, L.M. 1989. Status report of the loggerhead turtle. Pages 122-139 in Ogren,

L., F. Berry, K. Bjorndal, H. Kumpf, R. Mast, G. Medina, H. Reichart, and R. Witham

(eds.). Proceedings of the 2nd Western Atlantic Turtle Symposium. NOAA Technical

Memorandum NMFS-SEFC-226.

Encalada, S.E., K.A. Bjorndal, A.B. Bolten, J.C. Zurita, B. Schroeder, E. Possardt,

C.J. Sears, and B.W. Bowen. 1998. Population structure of loggerhead turtle

(Caretta caretta) nesting colonies in the Atlantic and Mediterranean as inferred from

mitochondrial DNA control region sequences. Marine Biology 130:567-575.

Lutz, P.L., and J.A. Musick (eds.). 1997. The Biology of Sea Turtles. CRC Press,

Inc., Boca Raton, FL. 432pp.

Meylan, A., B. Schroeder, and A. Mosier. 1995. Sea turtle nesting activity in the

State of Florida 1979-1992. Florida Marine Research Publications Number 52, St.

Petersburg, FL. 51pp.

National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1991.

Recovery plan for U.S. population of loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta). National

reproductive migration, the females returning to their natal beach to nest.

CRITICAL HABITAT: None designated.

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National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1998.

Recovery plan for U.S. Pacific populations of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta).

National Marine Fisheries Service, Silver Spring, MD. 59pp.

National Research Council. 1990. Decline of the sea turtles: causes and prevention.

National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. 259pp.

Ross, J.P. 1982. Historical decline of loggerhead, ridley, and leatherback sea

turtles. Pages 189-195 in Bjorndal, K.A. (ed.). Biology and Conservation of Sea

Turtles. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

Turtle Expert Working Group. 1998. An assessment of the Kemp’s ridley

(Lepidochelys kempii) and loggerhead (Caretta caretta) sea turtle populations in the

Western North Atlantic. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-409. 96pp.

Turtle Expert Working Group. 2000. Assessment update for the Kemp’s ridley and

loggerhead sea turtle populations in the western North Atlantic. NOAA Technical

Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-444. 115pp.

Witherington, B.E., and R.E. Martin. 1996. Understanding, assessing, and resolving

light-pollution problems on sea turtle nesting beaches. FMRI Technical Report TR-2.

Florida Marine Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Florida. 73pp.

For more information please contact:

National Sea Turtle Coordinator

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

7915 Baymeadows Way, Suite 200

Jacksonville, Florida 32256

Telephone: (904) 731-3336

Fax: (904) 731-3045

International Sea Turtle Specialist

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

University of West Georgia

Department of Biology

Carrollton, Georgia 30118-6300

Telephone: (770) 214-9293

Proposed Action

12-Month Finding and Proposed Reclassification Rule for Nine Loggerhead

Sea Turtle Populations

 Federal Register Notice

 Frequently Asked Questions

 Press Release

 2009 Loggerhead Sea Turtle Status Review

 07/12/2007 CBD et. al. Petition - PDF, 165KB

 11/15/2007 CBD et. al. Petition - PDF, 297KB

ESA Status Review

 2007 Endangered Species Act (ESA) Five-Year Review

Recovery plan for U.S. population of loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta). National

Marine Fisheries Service, Washington, D.C. 64pp.

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Send comments on our web site or general questions to North Florida office.

If you need special assistance please contact the Public Affairs Officer.

Last updated: January 19, 2011

 Loggerhead Sea Turtle General Recovery Information - U. S. Fish and

Wildlife Service resources for information on the loggerhead sea turtle and its

recovery.

Recovery Plans

2008 Northwest Atlantic Population of the Loggerhead Sea Turtle , Second

Revision<

 2008 NW Atlantic Loggerhead Recovery Plan - PDF 2.0MB

 Executive Summary

 Download Annotated Threats Tables Here

 Press Release

 Frequently Asked Questions

PDF Version of Factsheet - 126KB

General Information

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