Using various environmental and inherited cues, they quickly migrate to the water's edge in order to avoid the beaks of hungry predators. Once in the water the hatchlings swim directly out to sea where they face a perilous struggle to survive to adulthood. Although the maximum age of adult sea turtles is unknown, there have been some suspected to be more than 100 years old. Diet Jellyfish is a favorite food of sea turtles. In addition they enjoy crab and lobster.
Sea turtles use their beak to tear at their meal.
Capture of adult turtles for eggs, meat, leather, and shell has decreased breeding populations. By far the largest human-caused source of sea turtle mortality is turtles drowning in the trawls of shrimp boats and other fishing vessels' nets. It is estimated that 155,000 sea turtles drown needlessly in shrimp trawls every year. For every pound of shrimp harvested, ten pounds of mostly dead bycatch is thrown overboard making the shrimp industry the most wasteful fishery in the world. TEDs allow for a better-targeted fishery, and therefore a healthier ocean ecosystem.