A green sea turtle swims in clear water near Moorea, French Polynesia.

Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) — A green sea turtle swims near Moorea, French Polynesia.

Creator: [Charles J. Sharp](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Creator:Charles_J_Sharp), [Wikimedia Commons source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Green_sea_turtle_(Chelonia_mydas)_Moorea.jpg), CC BY-SA 4.0. Licence: [CC BY-SA 4.0 deed](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en).

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

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Species record

Green Sea Turtle

Chelonia mydas

Explore the Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) species record in The Ark Is Earth, including classification, habitat, distribution, conservation information, and sources.

Summary

Green turtles live in tropical, subtropical, and temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean. Adults feed mainly on seagrasses and algae in coastal areas; females migrate to sandy beaches to lay eggs, and hatchlings spend their early years offshore before moving toward coastal feeding grounds.

Classification in this archive

  1. Kingdom: Animals
  2. Phylum: Chordates
  3. Subphylum: Vertebrates
  4. Class: Reptilia
  5. Order: Testudines
  6. Family: Cheloniidae
  7. Genus: Chelonia

Habitat and distribution

Selected documented locations — not a complete species range.

Habitat
nearshore marine waters, seagrass beds, open-ocean juvenile habitat, sandy nesting beaches, intertidal coastal waters
Selected regions
Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America
Selected countries
Australia, Kenya

Conservation status

The Ark records: Least Concern.

Did you know?

  • Green turtles are the only sea-turtle species that is primarily herbivorous, eating mostly seagrasses and algae.
  • Hatchling green turtles swim offshore and can spend several years in the open ocean before moving to nearshore feeding grounds.

More images

A green turtle swims in the waters of Hawaii, USA.

Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) — A green turtle swims in the waters of Hawaii, USA.

Creator: Photograph by [Brocken Inaglory](https://sites.google.com/site/thebrockeninglory/), edited by [Keta](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Keta); [Wikimedia Commons source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hawaii_turtle_2.JPG), CC BY-SA 3.0 (also CC BY-SA 2.5 and GNU FDL 1.2 or later). Licences: [CC BY-SA 3.0 deed](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en), [CC BY-SA 2.5 deed](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/deed.en), [GNU FDL 1.2](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/fdl-1.2.html).

Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0; also CC BY-SA 2.5 and GNU FDL 1.2 or later

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Sources and attribution