Green Sea Turtle

Appearance: Its name describes the color of its body fat, not its carapace (top shell), which is smooth and colored light to dark brown with dark mottling. Adults can grow to four feet long and weigh as much as 400 pounds.

Habitat: Most sea turtle nesting in the continental U.S. occurs in Florida, where five species of turtles deposit eggs in 40,000 to 70,000 nests annually. The nesting is concentrated along the east coast from Volusia to Broward counties. One species, the green turtle, digs anywhere from 200 to 1,100 nests each year in Florida.

Behavior: Sexually mature when they are 20 to 50 years old, female green sea turtles crawl ashore to lay 75-200 eggs in shallow nests high on the beach. For reasons that aren't understood, more eggs (1,000 or so) are laid every other year. Once the eggs are covered and concealed, females crawl back to the sea. Each turtle may nest as many as seven times during the season that extends from June to September in Florida.