| Taxon ID: 11,871 Total records: 39,143 | ||||||||||||||
Chelonia mydas
Country
| Country | Myanmar |
|---|---|
| Continent Ocean | Asia |
Classification
| Kingdom | Animalia (COL) |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Chordata (COL) |
| Class | Reptilia (COL) |
| Order | Testudines (COL) |
| Family | Cheloniidae (COL) |
Taxonomy
| Genus | Chelonia | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| SubGenus | Vernacular Name | ||
| Species | mydas | IUCN Threat Status-Year | Endangered, 2004 |
| SubSpecies | Nat'l Threat Status-Year | Not Evaluated, 2000 | |
| Infraspecies | Reason for Change | ||
| Infraspecies Rank | CITES | ||
| Taxonomic Group | Reptiles | Native Status | Native |
| Scientific Name Author | Linnaeus, 1758 | Country Distribution | Myanmar |
| Citation | Description | Geographic Range [top]
Range Description: The Green Turtle has a circumglobal distribution, occurring throughout tropical and, to a lesser extent, subtropical waters (Atlantic Ocean – eastern central, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest, western central; Indian Ocean – eastern, western; Mediterranean Sea; Pacific Ocean – eastern central, northwest, southwest, western central). Green turtles are highly migratory and they undertake complex movements and migrations through geographically disparate habitats. Nesting occurs in more than 80 countries worldwide (Hirth 1997). Their movements within the marine environment are less understood but it is believed that green turtles inhabit coastal waters of over 140 countries (Groombridge and Luxmoore 1989).
Countries occurrence:
Native:
American Samoa (American Samoa); Angola (Angola); Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; Australia (Ashmore-Cartier Is., Coral Sea Is. Territory, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia); Bahrain; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belize; Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (Saba, Sint Eustatius); Brazil; British Indian Ocean Territory; China; Christmas Island; Cocos (Keeling) Islands; Colombia; Comoros; Cook Islands; Costa Rica; Cuba; Curaçao; Cyprus; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Ecuador (Galápagos); Egypt; Equatorial Guinea (Bioko); Eritrea; Fiji; French Guiana; French Polynesia; French Southern Territories (Mozambique Channel Is.); Grenada; Guam; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; India (Andaman Is., Gujarat, Laccadive Is., Nicobar Is.); Indonesia (Bali, Jawa, Kalimantan, Lesser Sunda Is., Maluku, Papua, Sulawesi, Sumatera); Iran, Islamic Republic of; Jamaica; Japan (Honshu, Nansei-shoto, Ogasawara-shoto); Kenya; Kiribati; Kuwait; Madagascar; Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak); Maldives; Marshall Islands; Martinique; Mauritania; Mayotte; Mexico (Baja California, Campeche, Michoacán, Quintana Roo, Revillagigedo Is., Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Yucatán); Micronesia, Federated States of ; Mozambique; Myanmar; New Caledonia; New Zealand (Kermadec Is., North Is., South Is.); Nicaragua; Niue; Northern Mariana Islands; Oman; Pakistan; Palau; Panama; Papua New Guinea; Peru; Philippines; Puerto Rico; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (Ascension); Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Martin (French part); Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Sao Tomé and Principe; Saudi Arabia; Senegal; Seychelles; Sierra Leone; Sint Maarten (Dutch part); Solomon Islands; Somalia; Sri Lanka; Suriname; Tanzania, United Republic of; Thailand; Timor-Leste; Tokelau; Tonga; Trinidad and Tobago; Turkey; Turks and Caicos Islands; Tuvalu; United Arab Emirates; United States (Florida, Hawaiian Is.); United States Minor Outlying Islands (Midway Is., US Line Is.); Vanuatu; Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of (Aves I., Venezuelan Antilles); Viet Nam; Virgin Islands, British; Virgin Islands, U.S.; Yemen
Possibly extinct:
Israel
Regionally extinct:
Cayman Islands; Mauritius (Rodrigues - Native)
Reintroduced:
Bermuda
FAO Marine Fishing Areas:
Native:
Atlantic – southwest; Atlantic – northwest; Atlantic – northeast; Atlantic – western central; Atlantic – eastern central; Atlantic – southeast; Indian Ocean – western; Indian Ocean – eastern; Mediterranean and Black Sea; Pacific – southwest; Pacific – eastern central; Pacific – western central; Pacific – northwest
Range Map: Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.
Population [top]
Current Population Trend: Decreasing
Additional data:
Habitat and Ecology [top]
Habitat and Ecology: Like most sea turtles, green turtles are highly migratory and use a wide range of broadly separated localities and habitats during their lifetimes (for review see Hirth 1997). Upon leaving the nesting beach, it has been hypothesized that hatchlings begin an oceanic phase (Carr 1987), perhaps floating passively in major current systems (gyres) that serve as open-ocean developmental grounds (Carr and Meylan 1980, Witham 1991). After a number of years in the oceanic zone, these turtles recruit to neritic developmental areas rich in seagrass and/or marine algae where they forage and grow until maturity (Musick and Limpus 1997). Upon attaining sexual maturity green turtles commence breeding migrations between foraging grounds and nesting areas that are undertaken every few years (Hirth 1997). Migrations are carried out by both males and females and may traverse oceanic zones, often spanning thousands of kilometers (Carr 1986, Mortimer and Portier 1989). During non-breeding periods adults reside at coastal neritic feeding areas that sometimes coincide with juvenile developmental habitats (e.g., Limpus et al. 1994, Seminoff et al. 2003).
Systems: Terrestrial; Marine
Movement patterns: Full Migrant
Threats [top]
Major Threat(s): Green turtles, like other sea turtle species, are particularly susceptible to population declines because of their vulnerability to anthropogenic impacts during all life-stages: from eggs to adults. Perhaps the most detrimental human threats to green turtles are the intentional harvests of eggs and adults from nesting beaches and juveniles and adults from foraging grounds. Unfortunately, harvest remains legal in several countries despite substantial subpopulation declines (e.g., Humphrey and Salm 1996, Fleming 2001, Fretey 2001). In addition, a number of incidental threats impact green turtles around the world. These threats affect both terrestrial and marine environments, and include bycatch in marine fisheries, habitat degradation at nesting beaches and feeding areas, and disease. Mortality associated with entanglement in marine fisheries is the primary incidental threat; the responsible fishing techniques include drift netting, shrimp trawling, dynamite fishing, and long-lining. Degradation of both nesting beach habitat and marine habitats also play a role in the decline of many Green Turtle stocks. Nesting habitat degradation results from the construction of buildings, beach armoring and re-nourishment, and/or sand extraction (Lutcavage et al. 1997). These factors may directly, through loss of beach habitat, or indirectly, through changing thermal profiles and increasing erosion, serve to decrease the quantity and quality of nesting area available to females, and may evoke a change in the natural behaviors of adults and hatchlings (Ackerman 1997). The presence of lights on or adjacent to nesting beaches alters the behavior of nesting adults (Witherington 1992) and is often fatal to emerging hatchlings as they are attracted to light sources and drawn away from the water (Witherington and Bjorndal 1990). Habitat degradation in the marine environment results from increased effluent and contamination from coastal development, construction of marinas, increased boat traffic, and harvest of nearshore marine algae resources. Combined, these impacts diminish the health of coastal marine ecosystems and may, in turn, adversely affect green turtles. For example, degradation of marine habitats has been implicated in the increasing prevalence of the tumor-causing Fibropapilloma disease (George 1997).
Conservation Actions [top]
Conservation Actions: Green turtles have been afforded legislative protection under a number of treaties and laws (e.g., Navid 1982, Humphrey and Salm 1996, Fleming 2001, Fretey 2001). Among the more globally relevant designations are those of Endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN; Baillie and Groombridge 1996, Hilton-Taylor 2000); Annex II of the SPAW Protocol to the Cartagena Convention (a protocol concerning specially protected areas and wildlife); Appendix I of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Speciesof Wild Fauna and Flora); and Appendices I and II of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS). A partial list of the International Instruments that benefit green turtles includes the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles, the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation and Management of Marine Turtles and their Habitats of the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia (IOSEA), the Memorandum of Understanding on ASEAN Sea Turtle Conservation and Protection, the Memorandum of Agreement on the Turtle Islands Heritage Protected Area (TIHPA), and the Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Conservation Measures for Marine Turtles of the Atlantic Coast of Africa.
As a result of these designations and agreements, many of the intentional impacts directed at sea turtles have been lessened: harvest of eggs and adults has been slowed at several nesting areas through nesting beach conservation efforts and an increasing number of community-based initiatives are in place to slow the take of turtles in foraging areas. In regard to incidental take, the implementation of Turtle Excluder Devices has proved to be beneficial in some areas, primarily in the United States and South and Central America (National Research Council 1990). However, despite these advances, human impacts continue throughout the world. The lack of effective monitoring in pelagic and near-shore fisheries operations still allows substantial direct and indirect mortality, and the uncontrolled development of coastal and marine habitats threatens to destroy the supporting ecosystems of long-lived green turtles.
Citation: Seminoff, J.A. (Southwest Fisheries Science Center, U.S.). 2004. Chelonia mydas. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2004: e.T4615A11037468. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T4615A11037468.en. Downloaded on 23 March 2016.
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Record Level
Growth Parameters
| Temperature | 0 | Observed Weight | 0 |
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| Sex | Previous Catalog Number | ||
| Life Stage | Relationship Type | ||
| Preparation Type | Related Catalog Item | ||
| Individual Count | 0 | GML Features | |
| Observerd Individual Count | 0 | Notes |
Collecting Event
Images
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Additional Info
Synonyms To Manage Synonyms for Chelonia mydas, click this link: Synonyms. |
Caretta cepedii Merrem, 1820 ¦ Chelone mydas Boulenger, 1889 ¦ Chelonia albiventer Nardo, 1864 ¦ Chelonia lachrymata Cuvier, 1829 ¦ Chelonia midas Bocage, 1866 ¦ Chelonia mydas Caldwell, 1962 ¦ Euchelus macropus Girard, 1858 ¦ Mydas viridis Gray, 1870 ¦ Natator tessellatus Mcculloch, 1908 ¦ Testudo cepediana Daudin, 1802 ¦ Testudo macropus Walbaum, 1782 ¦ Testudo marina Lacépède, 1788 ¦ Testudo mydas Cuvier, 1831 ¦ Thalassiochelys albiventer Günther, 1865 ¦ |
Common Names To Manage Common Names for Chelonia mydas, click this link: Common Names. |
Green Turtle () |
Localities To Manage Localities for Chelonia mydas, click this link: Localities. |
Species Record Updated By:
Carlos Aurelio Callangan
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