Characteristics Of Hawksbill Turtles

Hawksbill turtles are found all throughout the tropical waters of the atlantic, inidan, and pacific oceans. Hawksbill turtles avoid deep waters, favoring coastlines where sponges are plentlyful and have sandy nesting sites within reach. Hawksbills grow up to about 45 inch in shell length and 150 pounds in weight. When hawksbill turtles are young, their carapace, or upper shell, is heart-shaped, and as they mature it elongates. Their strikingly colored carapace is ragged and has overlapping scutes, or thick bony plates. Their tapered heads end in a sharp point resembling a bird’s beak, therefore where they get their name. A further distinctive feature is a pair of claws adorning each flipper. Male hawksbills have longer claws, thicker tails, and somewhat brighter coloring than females.
Hawksbill turtles like this because the reefs have sponges they like to feed on. Hawksbills are omnivorous and will also eat mollusks, marine algae, crustaceans, sea urchins, fish, and jellyfish. Their hard shells protect them from many predators, but they still fall prey to large fish, sharks, crocodiles, octopuses, and humans. Like other sea turtles, hawksbills make unbelievable migrations in order to move from feeding sites to nesting grounds, normally on tropical