What Kind of Food Do Sea Turtles Eat?

Diet Categories

• Sea turtles are either herbivorous, carnivorous or omnivorous. These categories may change as a result of maturity or new captivity. Herbivores, like the adult green turtle, only eat local vegetation and plant life such as algae, sea grasses, weeds and sponges. Carnivores like the hawksbill and ridley turtles eat squid, crabs, anemones and shrimp. Leatherbacks are also carnivorous, eating jellyfish as a staple food. Omnivorous loggerhead turtles combine animals and vegetation in their daily diet plan.

Age-Based Diets

• Juvenile turtles will often eat a drastically different fare than their adult counterparts. Young green sea turtles eat a carnivorous diet constituted largely of jellyfish, and then become completely herbivorous in adulthood eating sea grasses and algae.

Jaw Structures

• Jaw structures determine the diets of sea turtles. For instance, a hawksbill has jaws that come together at an acute angle helping them snatch food from crevices and cracks in their native coral reefs. The jaws of loggerhead and ridley turtles are designed to crush and grind their hard-shelled prey.