North American Loggerhead Turtle Habitats Are Subtropical and Tropical

Summary: North American loggerhead habitats get four clawed flippers, horn-plated red-brown upper-shells, pale lower-shells and 12- to 13-scuted sides.

loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta): Tom Moore/NOAA, Public Domain, via NOAA Flower Garden Banks Marine Sanctuary

North American loggerhead habitats accept coastal and off-shore distribution ranges along Atlantic, Mexican gulf and Pacific coasts from Newfoundland through Florida, Texas and everything coastally and off-shore in-between and around southern California.

Loggerhead turtles bear their species common name for big-sized heads and the subspecies common names Atlantic and Pacific loggerhead turtles for coastal nesting bio-geographies and birthplaces. The Caretta caretta species configures Atlantic Caretta caretta caretta and Pacific Caretta caretta gigas (from Greek Γίγας, “giant” and French caret, “tortoise” via Latin caretta) subspecies. Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778) in 1758 scientifically described the Testudines (from Latin testūdō, "turtle" and Greek -ηνός via Latin –īnus, “of”) order member.

The Cheloniidae (from Greek χελώνη, “tortoise, turtle” and feminine noun-forming suffix –ία via Latin –ia and -ειδής [“-like”] via Latin -idæ) family member embraces two subspecies.

January through September fill Atlantic and Pacific loggerhead turtle life cycles with high-tide nights during nesting months even as May through July function as peak months.

Atlantic and Pacific loggerhead turtles go from deeper waters in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans and the Black, Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas to shallow-water mating. They have to hasten through off-shore and open waters so as not to be hurt by coastal and oceanic island development and fishing and shrimp nets. Their daytime itineraries and their inquisitive intelligence sometimes impel them instinctively but inadvisably toward coastal and insular lighthouses and streetlights and toward ship- and water-reflected lights.

Beach-house residents, collectors, commercial and cruise shippers, developers, fish- and shrimp-net fishers, night-lighting supporters, off-shore drillers, polluters and seafood suppliers jeopardize North American loggerhead turtle habitats.

Predatory ants, armadillos, bears, beetles, crabs, fishes, flies, gulls, killer whales, lizards, mosquitoes, opossums, pigs, raccoons, rats, seabirds, seals, sharks, skunks and toads kill loggerhead turtles.

Females lay 100 to 125 leathery-shelled, 1-5/8-inch- (41-millimeter-) long spherical eggs within one sandy chamber dug by hind feet below sloping, wide beaches during high-tide nights. Hatchlings migrate from their shells within 49 to 76 days maximally and 60 to 65 days mostly and mature physically and sexually as 8- to 12-year-olds. Crustaceans, insects, jellyfish, sargassum algae and snails versus algae, barnacles, clams, fish, octopus, sea urchins, shrimp, snails, sponges, squid, worms nourish hatchlings versus adults and juveniles.

North American loggerhead turtle habitats offer season-coldest temperature ranges at 10 to 20 degrees Celsius (50 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit) in temperate, subtropical and tropical waters.

Currents under 50 centimeters (19.69 inches) per second and 3- to 89-meter (9.84- and 291.99-foot) depths promote North American loggerhead turtles, as Atlantic and Pacific loggerheads.

Thirty-one to 48 inches (79 to 122 centimeters) queue up as total lengths for elongated, heart-keeled, horn-plated red-brown upper-shells (carapaces) with 5 pairs of costal scutes. Adults retain two 1- to 2-clawed, elongated, flipper-like forelegs and two 1- to 2-clawed, paddle-like, smaller hind limbs, 3-scuted bridges and cream-yellow-lower-shells (plastrons) two-ridged on juveniles. Atlantic and Pacific loggerhead turtles respectively support 12 and 13 marginal scutes on each upper-shell side even as both sustain two-paired pre-frontal scales between the eyes.

Heart-ridged, horn-plated red-brown upper-shells with cream-yellow lower-shells, five-paired costal scutes, three-scuted bridges, 12- to 13-scuted sides and two-paired prefrontal scales tackle North American loggerhead turtle habitats.

NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service-Office of Protected Resources, Public Domain, via NOAA National Fisheries

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta); Gulf of Mexico's Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (about 170 kilometers, or 100 miles, off the Louisiana coast); April 26, 2011; Tom Moore/NOAA, Public Domain, via NOAA Flower Garden Banks Marine Sanctuary @ https://flowergarden.noaa.gov/science/coralspawning10.html

range map for loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta): NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service-Office of Protected Resources, Public Domain, via NOAA National Fisheries @ http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/turtles/loggerhead.html

For further information:

Aardema, J.; S. Beam; J. Boner; J. Bussone; C. Ewart; I. Kaplan; K. Kiefer; S. Lindsay; E. Merrill; W. Moretz; J. Roberts; E. Rockwell; M. Reott; J. Willson; A. Pickens; W. Guthrie; A. Young; Y. Kornilev; W. Anderson; G. Connette; E. Eskew; E. Teague; M. Thomas; and A. Tutterow. "Loggerhead Caretta caretta." Herps of NC > Amphibians and Reptiles of North Carolina > Turtles.
Available @ https://herpsofnc.org/loggerhead/

Babcock, Harold L. (Lester). 1919. "Caretta caretta (Linné)." The Turtles of New England; With Sixteen Plates. Monographs on the Natural History of New England; Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, vol. 8, no. 3: 346-353, Plate 18. Boston MA: Boston Society of Natural History.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12636549
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/turtlesofnewengl00babc#page/346/mode/1up

Beane, Jeffrey C.; Alvin L. Braswell; Joseph C. Mitchell; William M. Palmer; and Julian R. Harrison III. 2010. "Loggerhead Sea Turtle Caretta caretta." Page 178. In: Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia. With contributions by Bernard S. Martof and Joseph R. Bailey. Second Edition, Revised and Updated. Chapel Hill NC: The University of North Carolina.

Catesby, Mark. 1754. "Testudo marina Caouanna, The Loggerhead Turtle." The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands: Containing the Figures of Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Serpents, Insects and Plants: Particularly the Forest-Trees, Shrubs, and Other Plants, Not Hitherto Described, or Very Incorrectly Figured by Authors. Vol. II: 40. London, England: C. Marsh and T. Wilcox, MDCCLIV.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13414273

Holbrook, John Edwards. 1840. "Chelonia caretta -- Linnaeus." North American Herpetology; Or, A Description of the Reptiles Inhabiting the United States. Vol. IV: 43-48. Philadelphia PA: J. Dobson.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3682734

Iverson, John B., Ph.D. 2003. "Loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta." Pages 89-90. In: Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. Volume 7, Reptiles, edited by Michael Hutchins, James B. Murphy, and Neil Schlager. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group.

La Cépède, M. le comte de (Bernard Germain Etienne de La Ville sur Illon); Georges Cuvier, Baron; A.-G. (Anselme-Gaëtan) Desmarest. 1881. "La Tortue Nasicorne." Histoire Naturelle de Lacépède: Comprenant les Cétacés, les Quadrupèdes Ovipares, les Serpents et les Poissons. Tome I: 137. Paris, France: Furne, Jouvet et Cie; Jouvet et Cie, Successeurs, MDCCCLXXXI.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16016475

Linnaeus, Carl. 1758. "2. Testudo caretta." Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, Tomus I, Editio Decima, Reformata: 197-198. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727108

"Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta)." Texas Parks & Wildlife Department > Wildlife > Wildlife Fact Sheets > Reptiles.
Available @ https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/logghead/

"Loggerhead Turtle." NOAA Fisheries > Find a Species > Sea Turtles > By Species.
Available @ https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/loggerhead-turtle

"Loggerhead Turtle." World Wildlife Fund > Our Work > Species > Marine Animals > Sea Turtle > The Sea Turtle Family.
Available @ https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/loggerhead-turtle

Partymiller, Lindsay. "Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta)." University of Georgia > Savannah River Ecology Laboratory > Herpetology at SREL > Reptiles and Amphibians of SC and GA > Turtles of SC and GA.
Available @ https://srelherp.uga.edu/turtles/carcar.htm

Sea Turtle Conservancy @conserveturtles. 30 March 2015. "We have sea turtle posters!" Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/conserveturtles/photos/a.139786232716798.23644.136121223083299/1047461515282594/

Sonnini, C.S. (Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert); P.A. (Pierre André) Latreille. 1801."La Tortue Caouane, Testudo Caretta." Histoire Naturelle des Reptiles, Avec Figures Dessinées d'après Nature. Première Partie: Quadrupèdes et Bipèdes Ovipares. Tome premier: 53-57. Paris, France: Imprimerie de Crapelet, An X (September 1801-September 1802).
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3688565

Sonnini, C.S. (Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert); P.A. (Pierre André) Latreille. 1801."La Tortue nasicorne, Testudo nasicornis." Histoire Naturelle des Reptiles, Avec Figures Dessinées d'après Nature. Première Partie: Quadrupèdes et Bipèdes Ovipares. Tome premier: 57-58. Paris, France: Imprimerie de Crapelet, An X (September 1801-September 1802).
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3688569

"The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map." The National Gardening Association > Gardening Tools > Learning Library USDA Hardiness Zone > USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
Available @ https://garden.org/nga/zipzone/2012/

Uetz, Peter. "Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758)." Reptile Database.
Available @ http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Caretta&species=caretta&search_param=%28%28search%3D%27caretta+caretta%27%29%29

Yates, Brock. 3 June 2019. "Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta)." All Turtles > Species Covered > Turtles > Turtle Species > Sea Turtle Turtles > 6. Loggerhead Sea Turtle. Last updated 15 August 2022.
Available @ https://www.allturtles.com/loggerhead-sea-turtle/