Green sea turtle

About this species

The green sea turtle, also known as the green turtle, black sea turtle, and Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus Chelonia. Its range extends throughout tropical and subtropical seas around the world, with two distinct populations in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but it is also found in the Indian Ocean. The common name refers to the usually green fat found beneath its carapace, due to its diet strictly being seagrass, not to the color of its carapace, which is olive to black.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Green sea turtle”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 4,478 records
February: 3,661 records
March: 4,892 records
April: 4,789 records
May: 5,165 records
June: 4,911 records
July: 5,472 records
August: 5,061 records
September: 4,155 records
October: 4,043 records
November: 3,836 records
December: 4,220 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–4 m · Deepest record: 270 m

0–10 m: 4,440 records
10–20 m: 24 records
20–30 m: 5 records
30–40 m: 4 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 1 records
60–70 m: 3 records
70–80 m: 2 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 2 records
100–110 m: 1 records
110+ m: 5 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 23–29 °C

22–24 °C: 117 records
24–26 °C: 102 records
26–28 °C: 60 records
28–30 °C: 18 records

Photos

(c) Andresvilla92, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Jared Shorma, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Kyle Van Houtan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Don Loarie, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Susan Aide, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) nbasargin, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ewout Knoester, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Green sea turtle, Green turtle, Black Turtle, Common Green Sea Turtle, Common green turtle, green sea turtle, Green Sea Turtle, green turtle, Green Turtle, Pacific green sea turtle

Names in 6 more languages

German: Suppenschildkröte
Spanish: Caguama, Tortuga Blanca, Tortuga Blanca de Mar, Tortuga-marina verde-del Atlántico, Tortuga Negra, Tortuga Prieta, tortuga verde, Tortuga Verde
French: Tortue comestible, tortue franche, Tortue Franche, Tortue franche (La), Tortue verte, tortue verte, Tortue Verte, Tortue verte, Tortue franche
Indonesian: Penyu Hijau
Japanese: Ao umigame, アオウミガメ, クロウミガメ
Simplified Chinese: 海龜, 石龜, 綠海龜, 綠蠵龜, 绿海龟, 菜龜, 黑龜

Other scientific names: Chelonia agassizii, Chelonia japonica, Chelonia viridis, Testudo mydas

Similar species

Hawksbill turtle
Eretmochelys imbricata

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
142,674 open-data records from 1758 to 2026.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.