The Largest Hard-Shelled Sea Turtle In The World

Loggerheads are the largest hard-shelled sea turtle in the world. Leatherbacks are bigger, but are part of the soft-shell family of sea turtles. Loggerheads have a broad muscular head, powerful jaws, and have a distinct reddish-brown shell, which is called a carapace. The carapace is elongated and heart shaped when seen from above. The adult shell is rather smooth, and the sides become slightly serrated as they narrow toward the tail. The paddle-like limbs are each equipped with a pair of claws. The loggerhead is usually various shades of brown; from its reddish-brown to dark brown carapace as well as upper surfaces of the head and limbs, which are chestnut to dark brown also. The underbelly and the edges of its limbs, are light yellow to tan, and the scales on the head have a creamy yellow edge and a darker center. Telling the difference between a male and a female loggerhead is quite easy, males have a tail that extends well beyond the shell, where as the female’s is much shorter.

Adult loggerheads average three feet in length, and weigh approximately 250 pounds. For perspective- the largest recorded loggerhead had a 7 ½ ft. shell and weighed in at an astounding 1,190 lbs. Unfortunately, many loggerheads, and sea turtles in general are poached or caught in fishing nets never able to realize their full size. Today’s loggerhead is much smaller than the loggerhead of old.
Loggerheads have an enormous range and are found in most tropical and subtropical seas. They do not occur in the more frigid waters of the world. In Costa Rica, loggerheads are found on the Caribbean side, never making it to the Pacific coast of the country. In Costa Rica, the female loggerhead nests on the Caribbean coast preferring the southern part of the coast, but are periodically seen as far north as Tortuguero National Park. They frequent coral reefs and shipwrecks, seeming to prefer coastal habitats and inland water bodies, but they will also travel hundreds of miles out to sea.
Males and females mate in the water in close proximity to their nesting sites. The male uses its massive claws to attach itself to the female. It’s not unusual for mating to last three hours.
Adult female loggerheads will often return, sometimes covering thousands of miles, to the beach where they hatched, to lay their eggs. Normally taking place at high tide and during the night, the female will lay her large clutch of eggs, typically between 65 to 200 eggs, in a deep hole in the sand which she will cover after she has laid all her eggs. A female can nest several times during the breeding season, with 12-15 day intervals. Hatchlings appear about 7 to 10 weeks after the eggs are laid. Since eggs are abandoned after being laid, the young hatchlings are on their own. When they emerge from the nest they immediately head to the sea. This trek is survival of the fittest, and most will never reach 1 year old.
Loggerheads are carnivores. They feed on shrimp, crab, jellyfish, mollusks and squid but have also been known to occasionally munch on seaweed and sargassum.
Luckily for the loggerhead, their meat is not as highly valued as that of other marine turtles, but unfortunately, their eggs are. Poaching is a problem. In Costa Rica, the on-going development of nesting beaches for tourism as well as shrimp nets, in which they drown, take a serious toll on these magnificent creatures.
It’s interesting to note that a loggerhead sea turtel can travel up to speeds of 15 mph.
Pollution, shrimping, and development of nesting beaches are a major reason the loggerhead has been on the endangered species list since 1978.