Most of body size measurements for adult turtle come from the nesting females because they are more accessible than males. Marquez-M 1990
suggested that mean size of nesting female and hatchling shows wide variation from place to place. A size of 111.6 cm CCL was recorded from the Comoro
Islands and 81.2 cm SCL recorded from Guyana Marquez-M, 1990. Green turtle body weight can be range from 89.8 kg to as heavy as 186 kg. Marquez-M 1990
also noted that green turtle C. mydas hatchling’s size ranges from 44 - 59 mm and body weight ranges from 18.4 to 35 g.
2.3. Habitat
2.3.1. Nesting habitat
There is more understanding about the ecology of nesting habitat because of its accessibility. But the fact is, seaturtle spend most of their life at sea Bjorndal,
1999. Nesting habitat takes place at beach. Different species have their own preferences. Green turtle prefers small cove to large beaches Pritchard and
Mortimer, 1999 which usually are dominated by Sea Pandanus vegetation Nuitja, 1992. In general, nesting habitat of green turtle C. mydas is consist of
three different materials, coral sand is predominant, which sometime mix with roots of beach vegetation and shells fragments Nuitja and Uchida, 1983. Sand
grain size composition is related to accessibility for seaturtle to dig eggs cavity. Green turtle C. mydas was responsive to medium grained size sand Nuitja and
Uchida, 1983. Incubation period of eggs is related to temperature and humidity Marquez-
M, 1990. Warm weather usually results to short period of incubation while cool weather will make the incubation period to be longer. In general, green turtle eggs
incubation period extends from 48 to 70 days. Incubation period of green turtle eggs at Pangumbahan beach extend from 52 to 71 days Anwari, 1986. The latter
data obtained from eggs which incubated at natural nest not relocated. Ewert 1979 suggested that the suitable sand temperature for embryo development
ranged between 25 °C and 32 °C.
2.3.2. Near shore habitat
Sea turtles spend most of their lives at sea Diez and Ottenwalder, 1999. They spend more than 90 of their lifetime there Bjorndal, 1999. Foraging and
mating are located at sea. Different species has its own preference of foraging habitat Bustard, 1972; Rebel, 1974; Marquez-M, 1990 while mating ground
usually takes place near shore Miller, 1997. Foraging habitat of green turtle is in seagrass beds. However, pelagic habitat for early stage turtles juvenile remains
unclear. High priority must be given to the early pelagic stage that occurs in most sea turtle species. There is still less knowledge about the ecology of seaturtle’s
pelagic habitat, including green turtle.
2.4. Feeding Habit
Green turtle is an herbivorous species, however, in early ages, they are carnivorous. Bustard, 1972; Rebel, 1974 and Marquez-M, 1990. Marquez-M
1990 stated that the juvenile’s diet consist of small molluscs, sea urchins, sea squirts and crustacean whereas most of the adult’s diet is seagrass leaves. Stomach
content investigation also showed that green turtle feed on seaweed Rebel, 1974; Bjorndal, 1980; Marquez-M, 1990 and Lopez-Mendilaharsu et al., 2006. They
feed during daytime at shallow waters. Specific genera of the feeding type are listed below Table 1.
Table 1 Green turtle diet Genera
Source Seagrass: Zostera, Cymodocea, Thalassia and
Halophila Rebel 1974
Seagrass: Thalassia testudinium Bjorndal 1980
Seagrass: Zostera, Cymodocea, Thalassia, Syringodium, Diplantera, Halodule,
and Halophila Seaweed: Gelidium, Gracillaria, Gracilliaropsis,
Hypnea, Caulerpa, Vidalia, Bryothamnion, Cryptonema, Agardiella
Marquez-M 1990 Marquez-M 1990
Seaweed: Codium amplivesiculatum, Gracilaria textorii, Ulva lactuca, Chondria
nidifica, Gracilaria pacifica, Caulerpa sertularoides, Aspagaropsis taxiformis,
Amphiroa
sp., Laurencia pacifica Lopez-Mendilaharsu et al.,
2006 7
