The tortoiseshell is beautiful but it is very beautiful The fierce sea turtle is a species of turtle that has been hunted by people for a long time, because its tortoise shell is very useful. It is not only a very luxurious decoration, but also a medicinal material that can cure diseases. Over the years, people's endless hunting has led to him being on the brink of extinction, and it is rarely seen in our country's waters.

Roughly similar in appearance to other sea turtles, with a flattened body, protective carapace, and paddle-like flippers for paddling, the hawksbill's most distinctive feature is its eagle-like beak mouth, and a serrated fringe shield on the back of the body. There are beautiful and colorful patterns on the shell of the tortoiseshell. It is a precious gemstone and can be used as a raw material for jewelry, sculptures and other accessories.

Chinese aliases: x shell, }c, x tortoise, Wenjia, eagle-billed sea turtle, thirteen dace turtle, thirteen scales, thirteen edged turtle, Ming tortoiseshell, millennium turtle

English name: HawksbillTurtle

Binomial method: Eretmochelysimbricata

Kingdom: Animalia

phylum: Chordata

Subphylum : Chordate

Class: Reptilia

Subclass: Reptilia

Order: Testudines

Suborder: Cryptodira

Family: Cheloniidae

Subfamily: Turtle subfamily

Family: Turtle family

Genus: Eretmochelys Fitzinger, 1843

Subgenus: Subgenus Eretmochelys

Species: E. imbricata

Distribution: Mainly from tropical and subtropical seas , especially in the waters of Malaysia, Indonesia, the West Indies and Brazil, and Central and South America.

The tortoiseshell has been regarded as a treasure since ancient times, especially the ornaments made of the tortoise shell. It is extremely luxurious, and due to this feature of the hawksbill, wild hawksbill has been greatly reduced, which should attract people's attention.

The Hawksbill, like other sea turtles, has typical sea turtle characteristics, with a flattened body, protective carapace, and paddle-shaped flippers for paddling. Generally, the body length of female adult turtles is 0.6-0.8 meters, and the body length of males is similar. The larger ones can reach 1 meter, and the largest ones can even reach 1.7 meters. The average weight can reach 45-80 kilograms. Historically, they have been captured The heaviest tortoiseshell reached 210 kg.

The most obvious feature of the hawksbill turtle is that its upper jaw is curved and sharp like an eagle's beak, which is why one of its common names "hawk-billed sea turtle" gets its name. The head of the tortoiseshell is long, the forehead has 2 pairs of dark reddish brown or black scales, the nostrils are close to the mouth, the snout is flattened, the front fin has 2 claws on each end, the rear fin has 1 claws on each, and the front feet are large. , Narrow and long, the hind feet are small, wide and short, and the posture of swimming is like a bird.

The scutellum of the tortoiseshell carapace is unusually thick, and the rear margin of the scutellum is serrated except in very old tortoiseshells. The carapace is smooth and shiny, the plastron is heart-shaped when young, becomes longer when mature, and has obvious ridges. The back of the young turtle has 3 longitudinal ribs, usually amber, with irregular cloud-like stripes of different shades. Most stripes are yellowish or brownish-black and radiate from the middle to the edges of the carapace. Individual differences in the appearance of hatchlings generally begin to become noticeable from the age of 5 months.

Another characteristic of the tortoiseshell is its unique carapace. The 5 vertebral scutes and 4 pairs of rib shields are closely arranged like shingles, but the scutellum of the old tortoiseshell is sparsely arranged and laid flat. The vertebral shield and the rib shield add up to 13 scutellum, which constitute the main body of the carapace. The 2 gluteal shields overlap with a large gap at the end. 11 pairs of marginal shields are arranged on both sides of the carapace, and the marginal shields at the rear of the body often overlap, showing a jagged edge.

The tortoiseshell carapace can reach a length of about 1 meter. The plastron is white or yellow, sometimes with brownish-black spots, with 2 longitudinal edges, and consists of 13 scales. The head, tail and four feet can be retracted into the nail. The four feet are flat, with small black patches closely arranged in imbricate on the front, and white on the back with sparse black spots; the tail is short and often hidden in the nail. Adult hawksbill turtles have obvious differences between males and females. The male turtles are brighter in color than the female turtles. The male turtles have thick tails and concave plastrons and long claws. Female turtles have short tails and flat plastrons and short claws.

There is evidence that tortoise shells can be regenerated after the tortoiseshell carapace is peeled off, provided that the Malpighian cells in the dermis are not damaged and released into the sea.

The carapace of Pacific tortoiseshell is more similar to heart-shaped, the ridges are completely continuous, and the black part of the front of the head and flippers is pure black; The ridges are continuous only at the caudal 4 vertebral shields, and the black parts of the head and the front of the flippers are light black.

The footprints of hawksbill turtles on the beach are asymmetric, because they move the left front foot and right hind foot at the same time when they walk on land, and the right front foot and left hind foot move at the same time, which is different from green P. turtle and The symmetrical gait of leatherback turtles is quite different.

hawksbill live in the deep sea, so it is difficult to capture, but even so, there are still Many people flock to him for his sake, which also makes it difficult to protect him. Let's introduce the living environment of the tortoiseshell.

Inhabits tropical and subtropical oceans such as southeastern Asia and the Indian Ocean. Mainly inhabits coastal reefs, bays, estuaries and clear lagoons in relatively shallow waters. Nesting usually occurs on remote, isolated sandy beaches.

hawksbill turtles generally live in waters with a depth of more than 18.3 meters, and will live in several habitats with completely different environments throughout their lives. Adult hawksbill turtles are mainly found in tropical reefs, and during the day they move in and out of the many caves and deep valleys in the reef, which provide it with places to rest. As a frequent migratory sea turtle, they have a variety of habitats, including vast oceans, lagoons and even mangrove swamps at the mouth of the sea. Little is known about the habitats preferred by juvenile hawksbill turtles in their early stages of life, but it is speculated that they live a plankton-like life in the sea like other juvenile sea turtles, not leaving their homes until adulthood.

The choice of food for hawksbill is very characteristic, which also shows that the artificial feeding of hawksbill is not easy. But in the vast ocean, the food of the hawksbill is still very rich. Do you know what strange creatures the hawksbill eat? Let me introduce to you below.

The Hawksbill prefers to feed on coral reefs, continental shelves, or shoals that are teeming with brown algae. Although tortoiseshells are omnivores, their main food is sponges. Sponges make up 70-95% of the total diet of Caribbean tortoiseshell populations. They eat a lot, such as the Caribbean hawksbill can consume an average of 544 kilograms of sponge a year. But like other sponge-eating animals, hawksbill only forage on a few specific sponge species, and other sponges do not become their food. The Caribbean hawksbill feeds primarily on the Sponge vulgaris, particularly the Sponges stelae, Helicosponens, and Sponges; the sponge species eaten by the hawksbill is known to be Geodia gibberosa (a bowl sponge with many dimples on its surface).

In addition to sponges, the hawksbill's diet includes seaweed and cnidarians such as jellyfish and anemones. The hawksbill also preys on the extremely dangerous hydroid, the man-in-the-wool jellyfish. Hawksbill turtles close their unprotected eyes when they prey on these cnidarians, and the cnidocytes of highly venomous animals such as the miraculous jellyfish cannot penetrate the tortoiseshell's scaly head, so the tortoise is not threatened . Hawksbill turtles also sometimes prey on shrimp, crabs and shellfish, and their jaws are powerful enough to crush crab shells and even extremely hard and thick shells such as bivalve shellfish. The hawksbill's mouth provides convenience for preying on shrimp and squid in the crevices of the coral, and the hook-like beak of the eagle's beak can easily hook them out.

The hawksbill has strong adaptability and resistance to its prey, and some sponges they feed on, such as Aaptosaaptos (dark red meat balls), chicken liver sponges, Tethyaactinia (emerald green or brownish green balls, Occasionally orange individuals), Spheciospongia vesparium (dark red wine jar-shaped), and hermit crab skin sponges are highly toxic and often fatal to other organisms. In addition, the Hawksbill will choose sponges rich in siliceous spicules such as Ancorina, Geodia, Ecionemia and Placospongia.