Sea Turtles of Okinawa

Summary of the 7 sea turtle species and their status in Japan

By jhjanicki on Friday,July 15th, 2016 in Biology, Conservation, No Comments

Photo taken by Zach Hansel

Species	Major areas inhabited	Major nesting areas	Passes through Japan	Nests in Japan	Nesting distribution in Japan
Loggerhead	Temperate, Subtropical	East USA, Brazil, Japan, Australia, Oman, Greece	Yes	Yes	The Pacific coast south of Fukushima Prefecture
Green	Tropical, Subtropical	Costa Rica, Australia, Malaysia, Oman, Ascension Island	Yes	Yes	Ogasawara islands, Nansei shotō
Hawksbill	Tropical, Subtropical	Mexico, Australia, Indonesia, Cuba, Seychelles	Yes	Yes	Nansei shotō
Olive Ridley	Tropical	Mexico, Costa Rica, India	Yes	No
Leatherback	All areas except for the arctics	Gabon, French Guiana, Suriname, Indonesia, Costa Rica	Yes	No
Kemp’s Ridley	The Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Western Atlantic	Northeast Mexico	No	No
Flatback	Northern coast of Australia	Northern Australia	No	No