Sea turtles are large marine reptiles, air-breathing reptiles that inhabit tropical and subtropical seas throughout the world. Their shells consist of an upper part (carapace) and a lower section (plastron). They have many different sizes, shapes and colors, but all have large flippers and are well-adapted to life in the ocean (NOAA, n.d., Sea turtle conservancy, 2024). The olive ridley is usually less than 100 pounds, while the leatherback typically ranges from 650 to 1,300 pounds! The upper shell, or carapace, of each sea turtle species ranges in length, color, shape and arrangement of scales (Sea turtle conservancy, 2024).
Altough marine turtles have existed for at least 150 million years old (Sea turtle conservancy, 2024), most scientist recognise only seven marine turtle species all classified as vulnerable or at risk (some higher risk than others):
Threats: Sea turtles face significant threats around the world including (Sea turtle conservancy, 2024):
Sources:
Sea turtle conservancy, 2024. https://conserveturtles.org/information-about-sea-turtles-an-introduction/
NOAA, n.d. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/sea-turtles#overview
Image: https://projectmanaia.at/blog/sea-turtles-of-mediterranean/
Not applicable. This layer is not available in the MSP Challenge North Sea Edition.
Historically, there are some records of sea turtles observations in the North Sea (http://www.seaturtle.org/mtn/archives/mtn141/mtn141-2.shtml#:~:text=Leatherback%20turtles%20(Dermochelys%20coriacea)%20use,passing%20between%20Scotland%20and%20Norway.), however this seems to be occasional and do not indicate a constant presence of turtles in the area.
Not applicable. This layer is not available in the MSP Challenge Baltic Sea Edition.
Not applicable. This layer is not available in the MSP Challenge Clyde Marine Region Edition.
Not applicable. This layer is not available in the MSP Challenge Adriatic Sea Edition.
In the Eastern Mediterranean Sea only two species of sea turtles nest; the loggerhead turtle and the green turtle. The loggerhead turtle has been classified as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) and the green turtle as Endangered.
Turtles is a month-by-month, computer generated data layer following calculations made by the ecosystem simulation (EwE). The simplified EwE Eastern Mediterranean model was adjusted for use in the MSP Challenge by Eyal Ofir.
For more information on how Ecopath-with-Ecosim (EwE) works, please visit our Wiki page or visit the official EwE website at https://ecopath.org.
Co-funded by the European Union.