Turtles
Loggerhead Turtle
Caretta caretta · Marine reptile, family Cheloniidae
The loggerhead is the heavyweight journeyman of the turtle world: thick-necked, barrel-bodied, its outsized amber head built around jaws that crack conch like walnuts. Divers meet it in less glamorous places than its reef cousins: trudging across shell hash off Florida, wedged on a North Carolina wreck, cruising sandy gutters at Sodwana ahead of summer nesting. What it lacks in delicacy it repays in presence; a big female pushing past resembles slow-moving furniture and utterly ignores you. Its hatchlings ride ocean gyres for years (the 'lost years') before returning to coastal shallows, one of the great migration stories in the sea.
在哪里、什么时候能见到
"常驻"表示在该目的地潜水时大多数情况下都能遇见它们；"季节性"表示在所列月份内可靠出现；其他任何情况都是意外惊喜，而非计划中的保障。
| 目的地 | 可靠性 | 月份 | 备注 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida KeysUnited States | Resident: seen on most dives | 全年皆宜 | |
| Sodwana BaySouth Africa | Seasonal: reliable in season | Nov–Feb | |
| Malta & GozoMalta | Occasional | 全年皆宜 | |
| North Carolina Outer BanksUnited States | Occasional | May–Sep |
最佳月份一览
| 月份 | 可靠目的地 |
|---|---|
| January | Florida Keys · Sodwana Bay · Malta & Gozo |
| February | Florida Keys · Sodwana Bay · Malta & Gozo |
| March | Florida Keys · Malta & Gozo |
| April | Florida Keys · Malta & Gozo |
| May | Florida Keys · Malta & Gozo · North Carolina Outer Banks |
| June | Florida Keys · Malta & Gozo · North Carolina Outer Banks |
| July | Florida Keys · Malta & Gozo · North Carolina Outer Banks |
| August | Florida Keys · Malta & Gozo · North Carolina Outer Banks |
| September | Florida Keys · Malta & Gozo · North Carolina Outer Banks |
| October | Florida Keys · Malta & Gozo |
| November | Florida Keys · Sodwana Bay · Malta & Gozo |
| December | Florida Keys · Sodwana Bay · Malta & Gozo |
深入了解
栖息地: Hard bottoms, wrecks, ledges, and open shelf waters; less reef-bound than greens or hawksbills
分布范围: Temperate and subtropical oceans worldwide: the US Atlantic coast, Mediterranean, southern Africa, Oman, Japan, and eastern Australia hold major nesting populations
习性: A powerful, big-headed cruiser often met plodding across open sand or hauled up on a wreck deck like a boulder with flippers. Less site-faithful underwater than reef turtles, it covers ocean basins between feeding and nesting grounds; barnacle-crusted shells testify to the mileage.
食性: Hard-shelled prey (conch, whelks, crabs, and urchins) crushed with massive jaw muscles housed in the oversized head
体型: 通常约 0.9 m; 记录深度可达 1.1 m (carapace length; a heavily built turtle commonly well over 100 kg).
与它相处时的行为守则
Standard turtle rules: no touching or riding, clear path to the surface, and extra distance during nesting season near mating pairs, which are focused and easily stressed.
保育
Vulnerable; longline and trawl bycatch remains the central threat, answered in part by hook and excluder-device rules, while beach protection has stabilized several nesting populations.
以此著称的已标注潜点
高亮显示的潜点由编辑团队为该物种标注；数字为1990年以来潜点约5公里范围内的GBIF出现记录数。
观看
来自官方渠道
Wildlife of Monterey | New film in our auditorium
Live Aviary Cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium
Live Aviary Cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium
视频均为创作者自有频道的嵌入链接。我们不托管任何内容，所有来源均注明出处。