The loggerhead is one of 250 species of turtle, the only reptile with a shell. Named for its large head, this cold-blooded animal is the most common sea turtle in Florida waters, but its numbers are in danger.
Young loggerheads are drifters, and they forage in shallow coastal waters.
Most like muddy bay bottoms, although some species prefer the clearer waters farther out to sea. Those in Florida bays dine on small fish and bottom-dwelling invertebrates. The loggerhead was listed as a threatened species in 1978, and its female population in the Southeast continues to decline. More than 90 percent of the turtles' nesting sites in this country are in Florida, and the state accounts for a third of the global loggerhead population. The turtles are listed as endangered worldwide, according to the federal government.