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People flock to Hawaii to see our many sea turtles. There is nowhere else in the world of as many sea turtles as Hawaii, and this, because they are fully protected here for many years.
In most of the Pacific Ocean, sea turtles are still eaten for food and are afraid of humans, but here in Hawaii they are tamed, peaceful and care little about their safety, less to be pursued by a big tiger shark who may want them for dinner.
What very few people do not know is that we have two completely different species of sea turtles here in Hawaii.
The common green turtle is seen everywhere, but the very rare hawksbill is extremely rare. As a marine biologist, I have done more than 1,000 dives in Hawaii and have seen thousands of green sea turtles, but only six hawksbill turtles.
The Hawksbill turtle takes its name from the shape of its beak because it looks like that of a hawk. The green turtle has a short, rounded bill. In fact, the Hawksbill uses its sharp beak to reach the caves and cracks to feed on sponges, soft corals and colonial sea anemones, while the green turtle feeds on fish. seaweed growing on the rocks or the bottom of the sea. In Hawaii, this seaweed is called limu. The Hawaiian name of the hawksbill turtle, '' ea '', means 'reddish brown', which is the color of their shells.
The other way to distinguish the two species of turtles is that the green sea turtle has a smooth upper shell called a smooth-edged shell, while the hawksbill has a rough shell that has sharp edges. The carapace of a sea turtle is composed of individual scales called "scales". The scales of the green sea turtle nest together in a smooth pattern, while the hawk's scales overlap. The upper shell of the turtle is actually its spine and ribs that have welded together to form the hard coating that protects their soft inner body.
These two species of turtles can become large and it is easy to distinguish males from females. Males have very large long tails and females have very short tails. Males also have a concave shell and females have a flat shell. These turtles mate in the water and the male sways over the female, giving it the concave shell.
Like the green sea turtle, the Hawksbill lays its eggs buried in the sand on secluded beaches during the winter months. The babies hatch a few months later and return to the sea on the sand. Babies live the first five years of their life on the high seas, far from land, feeding on jellyfish. One of the problems facing sea turtles is that they often eat a floating plastic bag, thinking it is a jellyfish, which can kill them. Turtles are also killed from time to time by boat strikes and military activities.
The Hawksbill Sea Turtle is fully protected here in Hawaii under the federal Endangered Species Act. It is believed that there are less than 100 adult females in Hawaii, and part of their difficulty in surviving lies in the fact that many beaches on which they lay are now covered with houses and filled with tourists.
Recently, on the north shore of Kauai, due to the closure of the road caused by the massive floods of 2018, hawksbill turtle egg hatches have been successful that have not occurred for a number of years. years. These turtles need large unpopulated beaches to survive, as do monk seals and other marine creatures.
If you encounter any of these very special creatures, please email me at [email protected] and let me know when and where I will eventually be able to answer and take photos. We have a hawksbill turtle database in Hawaii so we can track their movements, reproduction, and numbers.
You can also see my one hour educational film about Hawaii sea turtles on my website at www.underwater2web.com, as well as my other educational videos that we show in our local schools and which are also accessible to the general public.
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Kauai Marine Biologist Terry Lilley's Underwater images and educational videos can be found on his website, www.underwater2web.com.
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