Green Turtle

Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) is a large sea turtle with a flattened body, teardrop-shaped shell and broad paddle-like flippers. The shell varies from olive to almost black; its name instead refers to the greenish fat beneath the shell, associated with its plant-based adult diet. Identification should combine the documented shell or scale characters with locality, because related reptiles can be similar. All claims are limited to the species accounts opened for this batch (Wikipedia, general species account; Reptile Database).

It inhabits tropical and subtropical seas worldwide, including the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. Adults usually feed on seagrass in shallow lagoons and coastal habitats, while females return to sandy shores to nest. It is the sole living species in the genus Chelonia (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records). Details not supported at species level are omitted rather than supplied from related reptiles. Japanese occurrence follows the site's catalogue and the cited distribution information, without using any IUCN conservation material (Wikipedia, general species account; Reptile Database).