# @sealegacy on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/C8R-6LfpU2V
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/28706868-sealegacy-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/2a1dd219ac.jpg
- **Posted:** 2024-06-16T15:08:55.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** SeaLegacy (@sealegacy) — https://gondola.cc/sealegacy

## Caption

This Species Spotlight Sunday star is quite the shell-ebrity, especially on today’s #WorldSeaTurtleDay!

Seven different species of sea turtles glide through our seas. Six of them, flatback sea turtles, loggerhead sea turtles, ridleys, hawksbills, and green sea turtles, belong to the family Cheloniidae. The one remaining species, the leatherback sea turtle, makes up the entire Dermochelyidae family. Though they share many characteristics, like the way they move their flippers in a figure 8 motion to swim or their hydrodynamic shells, the two families are distantly related– having diverged from each other around 100-150 million years ago.

The main differentiation between the two lies in their shells. Cheloniidae family members have a bony top shell, called a carapace, and scales called epidermal scutes. In contrast, a leatherback turtle’s shell is much less bony and covered with thick leathery skin instead of scales. Leatherback turtles are born with scutes but shed after hatching.

Though they may vary in appearance, all species share the same reproductive strategy. Females come ashore at night and dig an egg chamber with their hind limbs. They then lay a clutch of about 100 eggs. These eggs incubate for around 50-60 days before they hatch, typically all at once. The hatchlings work together to dig themselves out of their nest to eventually head toward the horizon guided by the moon. 

After hatching, sea turtles spend roughly 5-10 years out in the open ocean before returning to warmer coastal waters. These warmer, shallower locations can house a busting marine playground in the form of coral reefs. Turtles are often found among these vibrant ecosystems featured in our latest YouTube video! 

Want to see if you can ace the turtle test? Visit our story for a Species Spotlight Sunday quiz! 

If you’d like to swim alongside today’s star and the thousands of other species that populate coral reefs, visit the link in our bio for a full video.

Video by paulnicklen 

#ocean #nature #turtle #seaturtle #coralreef

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 6,207
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- **Comments:** 42

## Tags

worldseaturtleday, turtle, nature, ocean, coralreef, seaturtle

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