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Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle
(Lepidochelys kempii)
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Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle
(Tortuga Lora)
Lepidochelys kempii
Family: Cheloniidae
Status: Endangered

Description: The Kemp's ridley is the smallest of the eight species of sea turtles. Nesting females range from 75 pounds to 100 pounds (34-45 kilograms). This species is gray black as a hatchling and juvenile.
The adults are broadly oval or heart shaped and their shells are olive green to gray green. Their skin color ranges from creamy color to white. The lower shell or plastron is a creamy or yellow green in color. This turtle frequently is caught in fishing nets or by hook and line sport fishermen because it is found in shallow coastal areas, bays and lagoons in search of its favorite foods: crabs and on occasion dead shrimp and fish. It is the only sea turtle which routinely nests in the daytime. Gale force winds usually precede nesting aggregations which are called "arribadas" in Spanish. In 1947, a film revealed approximately 40,000 turtles in a single "arribada". Most females of this species nest at least two times, some three times per season. Nesting season begins about the second week in April and is usually complete by the end of July, though some turtles may nest as late as August. Today, anything over 60 turtles is called an "arribada".
The average clutch size is 100 eggs, which have a leathery shell and are the size and shape of a ping pong ball. The incubation period ranges from 48 to 62 days, depending on temperature. Incubation temperatures below 29.5 degrees Celsius tend to produce male offspring. Therefore, lower spring incubation temperatures would tend to produce a large proportion of male babies.
Habitat and Distribution: Nearly the entire nesting population nests at Barra Coma neat the community of Rancho Nuevo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Occasionally females nest on the Texas Coast and farther south in Mexico's state of Veracruz. Juveniles are encountered in bays and estuaries in Louisiana and other gulf states on both sides of the border. Specimens have been found as far north as Cape Cod, Massachusetts. However, the majority of the population feeds and nests in the Gulf of Mexico and adults are generally restricted to the Gulf of Mexico.

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General Information: This sea turtle was named for Richard M. Kemp, a fisherman who submitted the type specimen from Key West, Florida in 1906.
Current Threats and Historic Reasons for Decline: Large scaled exploitation of eggs and meat at the nesting beach occurred primarily in the 1960s. Current threats include incidental drowning from a variety of fishing operations, primarily shrimp trawls. Gill nets and longlines also exact a toll. There is not a clear consensus as to whether or not large nesting aggregations of Kemp's ridleys historically occurred on the Texas Coast.
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