Sea Turtle 101 on Alabama’s Beaches

Sea Turtle 101 on Alabama’s Beaches

With 32 miles of white-sand beaches, there’s plenty of space to share the beach, especially with our nesting neighbors. Endangered sea turtles make their way onto Alabama’s beaches each year from May to October to nest and lay their eggs. In fact, 22,240 eggs were laid in 2016 on our beaches with 15,035 of those eggs yielding viable hatchings.
Sea turtles have been compared to living fossils. They first appeared when dinosaurs roamed the earth and are the last of the ancient reptiles. Three species of turtles lay their eggs on Alabama’s beaches, including green, Kemp’s ridley and loggerhead. An adult loggerhead sea turtle weighs between 175 and 350 pounds, while baby turtles weigh only one to two ounces. These turtles are protected under the Endangered Species Act, making it unlawful to disturb nests, hatchlings and sea turtles.
To help protect our underwater friends, Share the Beach was formed in 2005 by the Friends of the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge in Gulf Shores. Each year, volunteers are tasked with patrolling the beach, performing late-night nest observation and educating the public (see sidebar).
Visitors and locals alike line up alongside nests to witness a boil. A boil is when a nest begins to erupt with new hatchlings ready to make their way to the Gulf of Mexico. While it’s an amazing sight, it’s imperative measures are taken to protect our nesting neighbors and their hatchlings.

Sea Turtle Guidelines
– Never disturb a sea turtle nest. If you suspect you’ve found an unmarked nest, report it by calling 866-732-8878.
– During a boil, do not touch hatchlings. Only trained Share the Beach volunteers are permitted to guide or assist hatchlings while wearing protective gloves.
– Bring your camera! Watching a boil is a rare opportunity. Don’t forget to snap plenty of photos and take video, too. However, do not use flash photography on the beach at night.
– Avoid using flashlights on the beach after dark. Sea turtles are attracted to the light and become disoriented while being guided by the moonlight or starlight.
To help protect our underwater friends, Share the Beach was formed in 2005 by the Friends of the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge i- Remove all beach gear and trash from the beach each night. Sea turtles can become entangled. Nesting turtles will return to the Gulf without laying eggs if they meet obstacles on the beach.
Do not dig large holes in the sand. If you find holes, help by refilling them. Not only can sea turtles become trapped, but holes are also dangerous for the people who walk along the beaches.

Sea Turtle Statistics

Sea turtles lay an average of 110 eggs per nest; incubation lasts from 55 to 70 days. In 2016, 237 nests were identified at Dauphin Island, Fort Morgan, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. While 15,035 hatched, 14,104 of those made it to the Gulf of Mexico. Sixty-six nests were lost due to water inundation from Hurricane Hermine and other storms. Four nests were lost to predators. Despite these losses, 2016 was an exceptional nesting season for the Alabama Gulf Coast.
– By Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism
Loggerhead

Loggerhead sea turtles have large heads and blunt, powerful jaws. The turtle’s carapace and flippers are reddish-brown in color and the plastron is yellow. They grow to an average weight of 200 pounds and an average length of three feet.
– Size: Adults weigh 170 to 500 lbs. and have a carapace up to 45 inches in length.
Diet: Although feeding behavior may change with age, this species is carnivorous throughout its life. Loggerheads eat small sea animals, including mollusks, crustaceans and fish. During migration through the open sea, Loggerheads eat jellyfish, pteropods, floating mollusks, floating egg clusters, squids and flying fish.
– Habitat: Loggerheads are capable of living in a variety of environments. They can be found hundreds of miles offshore or in inshore areas including bays, lagoons, salt marshes and even creeks. Eighty-eight nesting beaches make up the loggerhead’s terrestrial critical habitat. These includes beaches in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina.
– Life Span: Thirty to 50 years or more.
– Reproduction: As with other sea turtles, females return to lay their eggs on or near the same beach where they hatched. Unlike other sea turtles, courtship and mating usually do not take place near the nesting beach, but rather along the migration routes between feeding and breeding grounds. Females may nest one to seven times during a breeding season at intervals of about 14 days, laying as many as 126 soft, round white eggs. The eggs incubate in the sand for 42 to 75 days.
– Population Numbers: Most reliable counts are of documented nests. Total estimated nesting in the U.S. fluctuated between 47,000-90,000 nests annually over the past two decades.
– Interesting Fact: Loggerhead hatchlings and juveniles are frequently associated with sea fronts (areas where ocean currents converge), downwellings, and eddies, where floating open ocean animals gather. The time that young turtles remain in these places feeding and growing is called the “lost year.” During this period, young turtles float on rafts of seaweed with the currents, feeding on organisms associated with sargassum mats.

Kemps Ridley

Female turtles lay the majority of their eggs on beaches along the east coast of Mexico. It is the only known major nesting beach in the world for this turtle. Females nest in large groups called “arribazones.” Groups of females move onto the beach to lay their eggs over a period of a few days. Each turtle digs a hole in the sand, deposits her eggs and returns to the sea. In 50 to 55 days, the eggs hatch and the baby turtles (hatchlings) rush to the water and out to sea. After at least 10 years at sea, adult females return to nest at the same beach where they hatched. Male turtles never leave the water. They appear in waters near the nesting beach during the breeding season to mate with the females.
– Reason for Concern: Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles are endangered primarily because of human activities, including harvesting of adults and eggs, as well as incidental capture in commercial fishing operations.
Size: Adults reach 24 inches in length and weigh up to 100 pounds
– Diet: Mostly crabs; also shrimp, snails, clams, jellyfish, sea stars, fish
– Habitat: Adults inhabit nearshore and inshore waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico that contain muddy of sandy bottoms where prey is found. However, hatchlings and small juveniles swim to the open ocean where they drift with floating Sargassum seaweed. This can last up to two years, or until the turtles reach a carapace length of approximately eight inches.
– Life Span: Individuals surviving to adulthood may live 30 years and possibly up to 50 years.
– Reproduction: Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles nest from April to July. Females nest primarily during daylight hours and the clutch size averages 100 soft, white eggs. Some females nest 2.5 times a season at 14 to 28-day intervals. This turtle reaches sexual maturity at about 12 years.
– Population: Most reliable counts are of documented nests. In 1985, there were only 702 nests reported. However, that number has risen significantly. In 2011, 20,570 nests were reported in Mexico and 199 nests were recorded in the U.S., primarily in Texas.
– Interesting Fact: Scientists think baby sea turtles may remember or “imprint” on the particular smell, chemical make-up, or magnetic location of the beach where they hatched.

Green Sea Turtle

While adult green sea turtles have a smooth, keelless carapace with dark mottling, hatchlings have a black carapace, white plastron and white margins on the shells and limbs. Green sea turtles have a worldwide distribution, primarily in tropical and subtropical waters, including the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. During the day, Green sea turtles feed in the sea grass beds that grow in shallow waters. At night, they sleep on the shallow bottom and sometimes out of the water on rocky ledges. Although sea turtles are subject to predation throughout their life cycle, predation is particularly high during the first two years of life. The eggs are eaten by raccoons, skunks, opossums, mongooses, coatis and dogs. Hatchlings are preyed upon by mammals, sea birds, crabs and carnivorous fish. Predation continues to be high until the turtles are big enough to avoid being swallowed.
– Reason for Concern: The meat and eggs of the Green Sea Turtle have long been a source of food for people. Although international trade of wild Green Sea Turtles is against the law, capturing turtles for local consumption still persists in many central Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia and Indonesia, Indian Ocean islands, east coasts of Africa and Arabian peninsula, in Central and South America, and in Mexico. Exploitation of the nesting grounds either by human interference or pollution poses the greatest threat.
– Size: Maximum size of 4 feet in length, weighing up to 440 pounds.
– Diet: Adults feeds mostly on sea grasses and algae, while hatchlings eat a variety of plants and animals, including sponges, crustaceans, sea urchins and mollusks.
– Habitat: Green Sea Turtles feed in shallow water areas with abundant sea grasses or algae. The turtles migrate from nesting areas to feeding grounds, which are sometimes several thousand miles away.
– Life Span: At least 30 years and up to 50 years or more.
– Reproduction: Adults reach sexual maturity between 25 to 50 years of age. Nocturnal nesting occurs at intervals of 2, 3 or 4 years. Incubation for eggs ranges from 45 to 75 days and clutch size varies from 75 to 200 eggs. Hatchlings emerge at night.
– Population: It is estimated that 5,000 females nested in 2010 in Florida. In 2005, more than 10,000 females are estimated to have nested on beaches lining the Indian Ocean resulting in approximately 44,000 nests.
– Interesting Fact: The color of the hatchlings, black above and white below, is probably an adaptation to life near the surface in the open ocean, making them less conspicuous to fish and bird predators.