Objectives:

 Recognize the importance of turtles in our ecosystems and learn more about
them.
 Learn to conserve, care for and protect the environment and the importance of
the same.
 Learn about marine life and its importance to the environment.
 Introduction

Sea turtles have navigated the Earth's oceans for the past 110 million years. Like
coral reefs and seagrass beds, sea turtles are an important link in marine ecosystems.
Some of them eat large numbers of jellyfish and represent a source of income for local
communities through ecotourism activities. But sea turtle populations are declining.

Every year, thousands of them are accidentally

caught by fishing gear. In addition, the beaches they
depend on for nesting are disappearing.

Also, we need to mention that beach clean-ups are

vital to mitigate the problem caused by ocean debris
and the danger that plastic pollution poses to marine life.
 Sea Turtles

The waters of Panama's oceans are inhabited by 5 of the 7 species of sea turtles that
exist in the world, these species are: the hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), the
green or black turtle (chelonia mydas), the loggerhead turtle (careta careta), the olive
ridley turtle (lepidochelys olivacea) and the leatherback turtle (dermochelys coriácea).

 The hawksbill turtles

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Family: Cheloniidae
Genus: Eretmochelys
Species: E. imbricata

The hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) is a species of sea turtle in the chelonid
family. It is the only species of the genus Eretmochelys. There are two subspecies,
Eretmochelys imbricata imbricata which can be found in the Atlantic Ocean and
Eretmochelys imbricata bissa, located in the Indo-Pacific region. Its appearance is like
that of other sea turtles. It has a flat body, a protective shell, and its flipper-like limbs are
adapted for swimming in the open ocean. It is easily distinguished from other sea turtles
by its pointed, curved beak with a prominent upper jaw (tomium) and by the serrated
edges of its shell. Although the turtle spends part of its life in the open ocean, it is most
often found in shallow lagoons and coral reefs, where it easily finds its preferred prey,
sea sponges.

Some of the sponges it feeds on are known to be highly toxic and lethal to other
organisms because of their high silicon oxide content, making the hawksbill turtle one of
the few animals capable of feeding on siliceous organisms. They also feed on other
invertebrates, such as ctenophores and jellyfish.
  The green or black turtle

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Superfamily: Chelonioidea
Family: Cheloniidae
Genus: Chelonia
Species: Chelonia mydas

The green turtle is the largest of the Cheloniidae family, ranging from 90 cm to 160
cm, its weight can vary from 80 kg to 150 kg. Mediterranean green turtles are usually
smaller than those of American origin. Proportionally, their head is much smaller than
their body, they have 4 pairs of costal scutes on their carapace, 2 prefrontal plates on
their head and a single nail on each flipper. The coloration of their scutes varies from
beige to almost black. The plastron is usually pale yellow. Darker colored hatchlings
have a white rim on their carapace and flippers. As with other sea turtles, neither their
head nor their limbs are retractable.

The diet of the green turtle varies according to its stage of development. Hatchlings
and juveniles are omnivorous, and their
diet is based on polychaetas, crustaceans,
mollusks, jellyfish, plants, and algae. It is
the only sea turtle that is herbivorous as
an adult, its serrated horny beak facilitates
the cutting of plants and algae found on
the seabed.
  The loggerhead turtles

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Superfamily: Chelonioidea
Family: Cheloniidae
Genus: Caretta
Species: Caretta caretta

The loggerhead turtle is a marine turtle. Its body is adapted to the conditions of the
aquatic environment, so its legs have been transformed into flippers, and its shell adopts
a hydrodynamic shape, flattened and oval, with somewhat jagged sides. Five dorsal
plates stand out, sharpened in the youngest specimens. Its coloration is reddish-brown-
orange on the back, and cream-colored, lighter, in the central area. Males have hooked
nails that allow them to anchor to the female's shell.

The loggerhead turtle is a cosmopolitan species, that is, it is distributed practically

throughout the world's oceans, occupying the warm waters of a wide intertropical strip. It
performs large and complex migratory movements. In the different stages of its long life,
it passes through different marine habitats: pelagic, benthic, being frequently present on
the continental shelf, even in bays, in shallow areas. They do not return to the beach
where they reproduce until after 20 years.

Loggerhead turtles are solitary animals. They usually swim at shallow depths,
feeding mainly on jellyfish, sponges, tunicates, mollusks, crustaceans, and other
invertebrates. Some of these they confuse with the
thousands of different plastics floating in the sea,
ingesting them, which causes their death by
obstruction. Cephalopods and some fish are also
included in its diet.
  The olive ridley turtle

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Order: Testudines
Family: Cheloniidae
Genus: Lepidochelys
Species: L. olivacea
The Olive Ridley turtle, also known as carpenter turtle, Mulato turtle, Manila turtle
and Parlama turtle, is a species of marine reptile very similar in size to the Olive Ridley
turtle (Lepidochelys kempii).

Its carapace is a faint olive-green color, with 5 to 9 scutes on the sides. In contrast,
the lower area, called the plastron, shows a pale-yellow color, which also stains the
areas of the mouth, nose, neck and the edge of the entire carapace, giving it, when
viewed from above, a visible outline. The rest of its body is olive green; however, its skin
may look reddish due to the presence of algae. Its fins end in large, strong claws.

Lepidochelys olivacea has a wide distribution around the world and is very common
in tropical waters of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans, except in the Caribbean
Sea. Before reaching full adulthood, it
maintains a mostly carnivorous diet. In its
natural habitat it feeds on a variety of animals,
such as lobsters, crabs, snails, jellyfish,
shrimp, and certain species of fish. If prey is
scarce, it supplements its diet with seaweed.
Very efficient, the olive ridley turtle dives to a
depth of up to 150 meters for its daily food.
  The leatherback turtles

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Family: Dermochelyidae
Genus: Dermochelys
Species: D. coriacea
The leatherback turtle is the only representative of the Dermochelyid family. It is the
largest turtle in the world, reaching up to 3 m and weighing 800 kg, although the average
is about 2 m in length and 500 kg in weight.

They are easily recognizable by the shape of their shell, which is very narrow at the
back. The carapace is formed by osteodermal plates joined by a cartilaginous matrix
and covered by a thick dermal tissue giving it a leathery appearance. Along its carapace
it has 7 longitudinal ridges and 5 on the plastron, very evident in the young.

Its coloration is predominantly dark, almost black, with scattered whitish spots more
abundant on the neck, ventral area and fins. The almost black hatchlings have white
flipper edges. The head of the leatherback turtle is small, rounded and scaly.

The leatherback turtle is the only turtle that bases its diet on gelatinous zooplankton,
ctenophores, salps and mainly jellyfish of the class Scyphozoa, known as "true jellyfish".
Their main prey are: Aurelia spp, Chrysaora spp, Pelagia spp, Rhizostoma spp, Cyanea
spp, Catostylus spp and Stomolophus spp.

They are highly migratory, being able to move

several thousand kilometers. It is difficult to establish
stable behavioral patterns in their large movements.
These migrations are for food and reproductive needs.
The sea turtles that live in Panama are characterized by being able to live from 50 to 80
years approximately, have shells of shell, can swim long distances, it is also important to
mention that the channel turtle can reach two meters in height and its shell is not hard,
but has a leathery covering.

The life cycle of the sea turtle is as follows:

1. Incubation
2. Hatching
3. Dispersal of hatchlings in the open sea.
4. Developmental migrations
5. Sexual maturation of pre-adults.
6. Reproductive migrations.
7. Courtship and copulation.
8. Sheltering and resting between spawning periods by
females during nesting seasons.
9. Nesting and return of females to their feeding habitats.
Sea turtles are of great importance as they are vital in maintaining the balance of the
ecosystem, but what exactly do they do to make them so important? Well, there are a
few reasons, but the most relevant are:

They play an essential role in the food chain.

Turtles are predators of smaller beings or organisms,

such as jellyfish and sponges. Due to this, there is no
overpopulation of these species since they are part of
the turtles' diet and thus manage to avoid plagues and
serious damage to coral reefs.

On the other hand, both sea turtles and their young

and eggs are part of the balanced diet of other predators.

They keep the beach healthy

The beaches remain fertile and healthy thanks to the sea turtles because they lay their
eggs, removing tons of sand, the transfer of minerals from water to land and vice versa
occurs causing the beaches to remain in a good way.

They keep the oceans clean and with nutritional quality

Sea turtles help conserve the oceans with a nutritional quality both for them and for
other organisms. An example of how they achieve
this is that green turtles, being herbivores, feed on
seagrass. If they did not do this, a large amount of
sludge would form, causing the water to lack the
quality of nutrients necessary for the life of
organisms.
 Conclusion

Even though for us, as humans, other species of living beings do not seem important
to us since at first glance they do not seem to be relevant in our daily lives, we are
wrong.

For most of us, sea turtles are just a looking animal species. But we do not realize
that they have great relevance for ecosystems in general and little by little we are
destroying their habitat to the point that this species is in danger of extinction. So, it is
time to open our eyes and realize the damage we are causing to the planet and the
living beings that inhabit it and begin to make a real change.

Thanks to this activity we can realize that sea turtles have a very important role in
maintaining a balance in the ecosystem
and that we must protect them so that they
do not become extinct like many other
species due to our irresponsibility. In
addition, we were able to learn a little more
about certain characteristics of this
wonderful animal, such as its habitat, the
different species that we can find in our
country, its life cycle, among others.
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