Green sea turtle

Within Saba’s many reefs and seagrass beds, green sea turtles thrive — and despite this species being endangered worldwide, divers on Saba have a great chance of seeing one at any dive site around the island. Growing up to 1.5 m/5 feet long, green sea turtles are the largest hard-shelled sea turtles on Earth, and their diet actually changes as they age. While juveniles are mostly carnivorous (eating fish, fish eggs, and marine invertebrates like jellyfish and mollusks), their diet becomes more omnivorous as they grow. By the time they're adults, they're almost strictly herbivorous, opting for a primary diet of seagrass and algae.

In the seagrass beds off Tent Bay, sea turtles can often be seen grazing along the sea floor — a behavior that’s actually good for the ecosystem. Since turtles only eat the tips of leaves (leaving the roots intact), their grazing behavior supports increased plant growth and results in stronger seagrass beds overall. Green sea turtles also have mutually beneficial relationships with many of the reef fishes around Saba: The algae and parasites that live on turtle shells are an excellent food-source for many smaller species of fishes, which in turn help the sea turtles by giving their shells a good cleaning, thus making them even more streamlined for graceful swimming.

Because they have lungs, green sea turtles must regularly surface to breathe air. During typical periods of feeding and other daily activities, observers can spot them coming up for air about every 5 minutes. If they’re lazing around, however, they can hold their breath for much longer — and even sleep underwater when it suits them! When they do this, they often lodge themselves into crags in reefs so predators can’t bother them mid-nap. They’ve even been known to have favorite sleeping spots, which they return to night after night.

Header image by @zahnerphoto (CC-BY-NC).