Leatherback Sea Turtle Research Paper

For this assignment, I chose to research the migratory patterns of one of the largest reptiles on Earth, the Leatherback sea turtle Dermochelys coriacea. The average adult leatherback turtle can weigh up to a thousand pounds and measure from 4-8 feet in length! This great size allows them to tolerate cooler water temperatures than any other sea turtle. D. coriacea have the broadest distribution of all sea turtle species and they can be found throughout the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. This large range is due to the migratory habits of the leatherback turtles, which are pelagic wanderers that swim great distances to tropical and subtropical coastal regions of the world to feed, mate, and nest. Though we don’t know for certain exactly

The remigration interval between nesting seasons for the majority of female Atlantic leatherbacks is two years, though three-year remigration intervals are not uncommon. I discovered from the article I read by M. C. James, S. A. Sherrill-Mix, and R. A. Myers that the coastal and slope waters of the Northwest Atlantic above 38° N provide high-use foraging habitat for leatherbacks and the waters off Nova Scotia, Canada, are particularly important to this species. This is indicated by the large seasonal gathering of turtles that occur there to feed. By tagging the leatherbacks with passive integrated transponders (PITs), the researchers were able to trace the nesting origins and foraging spots of the tagged specimens. These turtles are capable of diving to astoundingly great depths (only a couple of species, such as sperm whales, are known to dive deeper) due to their leathery ‘shell’, that unlike other terrestrial and sea turtles alike, lacks the presence of scutes. Yet, they are most often found at or near the ocean’s surface. The average sea surface temperature the leatherback turtles were sighted at during their migrations was relatively warm, suggesting that the turtles are more active with the rise in temperature during the summer months (July to September), when sea surface temperature approaches seasonal highs. At-sea field research confirms leatherbacks from multiple nesting colonies aggregate annually off Canada’s Atlantic coast during Summer and Fall months, when water temperatures are highest and food is most plentiful