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Olive Ridley Sea Turtle

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Olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) images & facts - this gallery gives an up close and personal view of the olive ridley sea turtle like never seen before. These stock photos and illustrations allow us to appreciate the splendor of this creature from multiple viewpoints and many different environments. The olive ridley sea turtle is the smallest of sea turtles. It is characterized by its olive-green coloring, its rather large head, and its nearly round shell.

Conservation status | Vulnerable
Scientific Classification | Kingdom: Animalia > Phylum: Chordata > Class: Reptilia > Order: Testudines > Suborder: Cryptodia > Superfamily: Chelonioidea > Family: Cheloniidae > Genus: Lepidochelys > Species: L. olivacea
Binomial name | Lepidochelys olivacea

The olive ridley is a small sea turtle. Females weigh only 77-100 lbs and have a carapace length between 25 to 30 inches long. They are highly domed, with a flat top to the shell. The coloring of olive ridley sea turtles is generally olive-green but may approach brown, gray or black. The underside, or plastron, is yellow, except for that of juveniles, which is white. Olive ridleys have one claw on each front and rear flipper, two pairs of prefrontal scales, and from five to nine lateral scutes.

Olive ridley sea turtles are primarily tropical, but with some sightings as far north as Alaska and as far south as New Zealand and Chile. Olive ridleys in the Atlantic are found mostly on the western coast of Africa and the Northeastern coast of South America. In the Pacific, they are found in large numbers off the coasts of the Americas but are rarely found near the central Pacific islands. Large numbers are also found in the Indian Ocean.

The diet of olive ridley sea turtles is varied. In their pelagic phase, they feed on sea jellies, sea squirts, pelagic snails, shrimp, and crabs. They also eat barnacles and algae they find on floating objects. They can dive up to 500 feet and feed on bottom-dwelling shrimp, crabs, snails, sea urchins, and other invertebrates. In coastal areas, they feed on crabs, shellfish, and fish.

Like most sea turtles, olive ridley sea turtles travel great distances from feeding grounds to the beaches they were born in order to nest. While some nest in isolation, the majority wait for other olive ridleys to gather, and as if by signal, they arrive on the nesting beach together in massive arribadas. Olive ridleys are thought to nest every year.

The IUCN lists the olive ridley sea turtle as Vulnerable throughout their range. They are often caught in fishing vessels, especially shrimp trawlers, and are frequently hooked by longlines. They are also at risk from floating plastic garbage, which they ingest, and from the pollution that destroys their nesting sites.
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