USFWS-Sea-Turtle-Care-Maintenance-Appendix A-Quarterly-Report-Form-V4.pdf

Appendix A to the USFWS Sea Turtle Care and Maintenance Guide. Appendix A is the form used for the quarterly reporting of sea turtles held in an authorized facility.

Publication date
Type of document
Protocol
Facility
Green sea turtle hatchling in the sand
Serving Florida by conserving our most imperiled species and working with others to conserve plants, fish, and wildlife.
Program
A rocky shoreline of a river. The water is calm. Mist and green branches line the river.
The Ecological Services Program works to restore and protect healthy populations of fish, wildlife, and plants and the environments upon which they depend. Using the best available science, we work with federal, state, Tribal, local, and non-profit stakeholders, as well as private land owners, to...
Species
A large sea turtle swimming along a reef

Loggerheads were named for their relatively large heads, which support powerful jaws and enable them to feed on hard-shelled prey, such as whelks and conch. The carapace (top shell) is slightly heart-shaped and reddish-brown in adults and sub-adults, while the plastron (bottom shell) is...

FWS Focus
A green sea turtle swims along the bottom of the reef.

The green sea turtle grows to a maximum size of about 4 feet and a weight of 440 pounds. It has a heart-shaped shell, small head, and single-clawed flippers. Color is variable. Hatchlings generally have a black carapace, white plastron, and white margins on the shell and limbs. The adult...

FWS Focus
A hawksbill sea turtle, showing its distinctive tortoiseshell pattern across head, flippers, and carapace, swims above coral through bright blue water.

The endangered Hawksbill Sea Turtle is one of seven species of sea turtles found throughout the world. One of the smaller sea turtles, it has overlapping scutes (plates) that are thicker than those of other sea turtles. This protects them from being battered against sharp coral and rocks during...

FWS Focus
A scaly, dark-grey reptile hatchling, partially covered in sand on a beach

The leatherback is the largest, deepest diving, and most migratory and wide ranging of all sea turtles. The adult leatherback can reach 4 to 8 feet in length and 500 to 2000 pounds in weight. Its shell is composed of a mosaic of small bones covered by firm, rubbery skin with seven longitudinal...

FWS Focus
A sea turtle on a beach covering a nest while a wave crashes in the background

The olive ridley was named for the olive color of its heart-shaped shell and is one of the smallest of the sea turtles, with adults reaching 2 to 2.5 feet in length and weighing 80 to 110 pounds. The species may be identified by the uniquely high and variable numbers of vertebral and costal...

FWS Focus
A greenish brown sea turtle laying on the beach

The Kemp's ridley turtle is the smallest of the sea turtles, with adults reaching about 2 feet in length and weighing up to 100 pounds. The adult Kemp's ridley has an oval carapace that is almost as wide as it is long and is usually olive-gray in color. The carapace has five pairs of costal...

FWS Focus
Ecosystem
FWS and DOI Region(s)