Leatherback Sea Turtle

How to identify

• Enormous size, 55–71 inches, up to 2,000 lbs
• Smooth, leathery black carapace with white or pink spots
• No scutes — skin over flexible bone
• Seven prominent ridges running length of carapace
• Deep offshore water habitat

About this species

The leatherback is the world's largest turtle and the only sea turtle without a hard shell — its carapace is covered with leathery skin over a mosaic of tiny bones. They are deep-water foragers that follow jellyfish into Virginia's offshore waters in summer and can dive to over 3,000 feet. An encounter with a leatherback in Virginia coastal waters is rare and remarkable.

Did you know

"Leatherbacks can maintain a body temperature significantly warmer than the surrounding water — a rare trait in reptiles — which allows them to forage in cold North Atlantic waters."

Sightings & citizen science

Help document Virginia wildlife by logging your sightings on iNaturalist. Every observation builds the conservation data that researchers and rehabbers depend on.