The Black Sea Turtle

The Black Sea Turtle nests on the beaches of the west coast of the Americas as well as some more remote locations such as the Galapagos Islands. This animal is most often thought of as a subspecies of the Green Sea Turtle, though it may also be a separate species in its own right. This debate is far from settled.

Also Known As...

This species is also referred to as the Pacific Turtle, the black turtle, and sometimes the Pacific Green turtle.

The Same Species

The black turtle has been shown to have no significant genetic differences from the green sea turtle.

Turtles are grouped by features such as the number and position of scales, called scutes, of the head and shell. Again, the pattern of these scutes is the same between black and green sea turtles.

Also, genetic research has shown no significant difference between these creatures and the more common green turtle.

A Different Species

The black turtle is much smaller than the green. Not only is the shell shorter, it is also not as highly domed. Both these factors contribute to it having an adult bodyweight of about 40% of an adult green turtle.

The black turtle also has a smaller head than the green.

Black turtles also lay smaller clutches and lay fewer clutches on average per season, which is consistent with their smaller body size.

Have a look at each type:

Current Status

As with the other sea going turtle species, the black turtle is endangered. It is over hunted for meat and eggs, gets caught in trawl nets and has its nesting beaches compromised by development by people. Presently there are between 5000 and 10000 of these animals left in the wild.

Conclusion?

It looks to me as if the black sea turtle is well on the way to separating from the green turtle as a different species. It is well on the way and if we were to compare the two again in a hundred thousand years they may well look vastly different both physically and genetically.

Let's just hope that black turtles survive the current excesses of humanity.

Species Summary:

Adult size: shell length up to 1 meter
Adult weight: up to 100 kilograms
Clutch size: about 70 eggs the size of table tennis balls
Clutches in a season: between 2 and 4
Years to maturity: 25 - 40 years
Diet: seagrass, but hatchlings and juveniles may eat some invertebrates
Scientific name: Chelonia mydas agassisi or Chelonia agassisi, depending on who you ask.

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