Marine turtles fulfil important roles in marine ecosystems Loggerhead turtles eat many types of invertebrates, in particular molluscs and crustaceans, and can change the seabed by "mining" the sediments for their favourite prey. Also, loggerhead turtles carry veritable animal and plant cities on their carapace. As many as 100 species of animals and plants have been recorded living on one single loggerhead turtle. These animals and plants depend on turtles to have somewhere to live and to prosper. The future for many of these species is intimately linked to marine turtle survival.

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    The Hawksbill sea Turtle is also called the "real" or "legitimate" turtle has the carapace in a pattern of scales in the colors brown and yellow. Its carapace usually measures around 1 meter of length, it weighs around 150 KG and its mouth seems a sharp beak of bird. This turtle eat mainly sponges and coral and it lays eggs in the coast north of Bahia.
In Brazil the hawksbill turtle is called " Turtle of Comb " due to the fact of its carapace to be used for production of adornments as combs, hoops of glasses, imitation jewelry and silverwares. For this reason it is considered one of the species more threatened of extinction in the world.
      The Eretmochelys Imbricata possesses an elliptic carapace with the dorsal shields with overlapping of scales. The head is of medium size, narrows and with a sharp beak. It is the most colored of the sea turtles. The scales of the head have margins cream or yellowish. The arrangement of the colors is diversified: brown, black, red and yellow. Along the breastplate there are two keels.The length of the carapace varies between 0,53metros and 1,15 meters in the adult turtles and they can weigh around 150Kg.
They are more found in the tropical areas, mainly where there are formations of reefs.
     There are registers of recaptures of the same young individual in the same place suggesting a not migratory behavior, evidencing that the areas of feeding of the turtles are typically to the side of the areas where they are nestled.
They lay its eggs from 2 to 5 times for station, there are from 73 to 189 eggs in the nest. The incubation happens between 47 and 75 days, being the "perfect” temperature between 27º Celsius and 33º Celsius. This species possesses a quite varied feeding:
Juvenile: anemones, jellyfishes, algae, gastropods, octopus, squids, sponges, crabs, sea hedgehog, stones and plastic materials.
Sub-adults and adults: lobsters, crabs, algae, sponges, mollusks, swamp leaves, fruits, wood, mussels, squids and octopus.
In the juvenile or semi-adult form it is found in the all coast of the Northeast of Brazil, but it lays eggs mainly in the coast north of Bahia and Sergipe.

The carapace of Hawksbill was very used for production of decorations as comb and imitation jewelry.

     The Loggerhead Turtle has a proportionately larger head of the other species, getting to measure 0,25 meters. It is species that more it lays its eggs in the coast of Brazil and it is also called mixed turtle. Its carapace measures approximately 1 meter and it weighs around 150 kilos, although some individuals weigh up 250 kilos.
The Loggerhead turtle eats fish, shrimps, clams, sponges and algae. Its powerful jaws allow triturating it the carapaces and carapaces of mollusks and crustaceans. Found in practically the whole coast, it lay its eggs mainly search the beaches to the north of Rio de Janeiro, especially the one of the Espírito Santo, Bahia and Sergipe.
     It possesses, when adult, the reddish-brown carapace in heart shaped and wide head. The young marine turtles are dark brown and plastron usually very pale. Usually the size of adult females is between 81,5cm and 120cm, with a weight of 75Kg could arrive the up to 200Kg.
    The Loggerheads turtles are highly migratory and they are distributed thoroughly around the world, of the north of the Tropic of Cancer to the south of the Tropic of Capricorn. It can hibernate during all winter, it sunk into muds in deep waters, as bays and estuaries. The record more to the south it is in La Plata's Rio, in Argentina. Adult females loggerheads begin to nest here in Brazil between September and March in places like Maranhão and Ceará. Nests are also recorded from Sergipe to Bahia, Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro. Nesting 2 to 5 times for station, where there are a average of 110 eggs for nest along the record areas. Loggerhead turtle mate along the migratory routes between the feeding areas and the reproduction areas. Caretta Caretta is carnivorous during all its life. It feeds on fish, shrimps, snails, sponges and seaweed, squids, octopus and jellyfish. It is the most common species nesting in our coast.

Do you know why this species is important?

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