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| The Common Green Turtle, Chelonia mydas (Linnaeus, 1758). Captives (top photo Florida, USA), bottom photo southern Thailand). The green turtle is the world's most economically important reptile. It reaches 1.5 m in carapace length and attains weights exceeding 295 kg. The name comes not from its external coloration, but from the color of its fat which is a highly prized delicacy in many parts of the world. It occurs in all temperate and tropical oceans. |
This is a family of hard shelled sea turtles of tropical and sub-tropical waters, some occasionally wander into temperate waters during the summer. There are 5 living genera with 7 species, and about 25 other genera known only from fossil material extending back to the Cretaceous. Cheloniidae is the sister taxa to the leatherback sea turtles Dermochelidae. These turtles rarely leave the ocean, normally only the females come ashore to deposit their eggs. The front limbs have been modified into large paddles, the hind limbs are smaller and serve as rudders with the toes joined by extensive webbing. Archie Carr became very pessimistic about the plight of the green turtle. In his excellent book 1967 book, So Excellent a Fishe, he wrote:
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