Today, under strict protection, the population appears to be in the earliest stages of recovery. Biology The Kemp's ridley and olive ridley sea turtles are the smallest of all extant sea turtles, with the weight of an adult generally being less than 45 kg and the straight carapace length around 65 cm. Adult Kemp's ridleys' shells are almost as wide as long. There are two pairs of prefrontal scales on the head, five vertebral scutes, five pairs of coastal scutes and generally twelve pairs of marginals on the carapace. In each bridge adjoining the plastron to the carapace, there are four scutes, each of which is perforated by a pore.
Males resemble the females in size and coloration.
Secondary sexual characteristics of male sea turtles include a longer tail, more distal vent, recurved claws and, during breeding, a softened mid-plastron. Neonatal Kemp's ridleys feed on the available sargassum and associated infauna or other epipelagic species found in the Gulf of Mexico. Age at sexual maturity is not known, but is believed to be approximately 7-15 years, although other estimates of age at maturity range as high as 35 years. The major nesting beach for Kemp's ridleys is on the northeastern coast of Mexico. This location is near Rancho Nuevo in southern Tamaulipas.