What Grasses Do Loggerhead Sea Turtles Eat?

Loggerhead turtles are primarily carnivorous, but they will occasionally feed on plant material--including seagrasses. More often, however, they may prowl seagrass beds in search of animal prey.

  1. Background

    • Loggerheads are large, heavy-headed sea turtles that inhabit tropical and temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, in addition to the Mediterranean and Caribbean seas.

    Seagrasses

    • In their "Turtles of the World" (1989), Carl H. Ernst and Roger W. Barbour note that adult loggerheads do occasionally feed on seagrasses. They specifically note the genera Zostera (commonly called eelgrass) and Thalassia.

    Other Herbivory

    • Loggerheads will also sometimes consume seaweed, including Sargassum. Hatchling loggerheads, which forage in floating Sargassum beds, are relatively omnivorous, and will feed on plants in addition to a host of small creatures.

    Normal Diet

    • The bulk of the adult loggerhead's diet, however, is dedicated to animal prey: crustaceans, jellyfish, shrimp, anemones, squid, sponges and a variety of other mainly invertebrate organisms.

    Sharks, Seagrass &Turtles

    • Studies in Western Australia's Shark Bay have revealed that tiger sharks prey more heavily on loggerhead turtles than green turtles. This tendency existed despite the fact that green turtles, an herbivorous species, spent more time in the bay's shallow-water seagrass pastures, also highly frequented by sharks, than the loggerheads, which hunted invertebrates in deeper waters.