Kemps Ridley Eating Habits
Food Supply and Location of the Kemp's Ridley's
Food of the Kemp's Ridley sea turtle consists of many things, but their food of choice is the crab (blue crabs are their favorite). Even though they are carnivorous, the eating habits of the Kemp's Ridley gives them a vast choice of meals. The Kemp's Ridley may prefer crabs, but they will also eat fish, sea cucumbers, diamondback terrapins, sea urchins, jellyfish, comb jellies, snails, clams, squid eggs, shrimp, insects and barnacles. The Kemp's Ridley is primarily carnivorous throughout it's life, even though they have also been known to feed on sargassum weed, algae and other aquatic plant life. The Kemp's Ridley use their strong hooked beaks to crush their food. The Kemp's Ridley can be found feeding or traveling through many of our national parks along the United States Gulf of Mexico and the United States Atlantic Coasts. When you are visiting the following national parks be very observant, report any turtle tracks or turtle nests that you may come across. If you see any live or even dead sea turtles, it is very important that you make sure you report it by contacting the turtle patrol that is usually on the beaches between April and mid-July, or notify a Park Ranger. If neither one of them can be reached, you can contact the Chief of the Division of Sea Turtle Science and Recovery at 361-949-8173 extension 226. If you see any hatch-lings emerging from the sand try to mark the spot with a distinctive item and try to count the hatch-lings as you are trying to protect them until an official can come get them. |
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| Here are some of the national parks that the Kemp's Ridley sea turtles can be seen feeding in or traveling through: |
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Fire Island National Seashore (Atlantic Coast)
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Cumberland Island National Seashore (Atlantic Coast)
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Biscayne National Park (Atlantic Coast)
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Everglades National Park (Gulf of Mexico)
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Dry Tortugas National Park (Gulf of Mexico)
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Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve (Gulf of Mexico)
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Gulf Islands National Seashore (Gulf of Mexico)
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Padre Island National Seashore (Gulf of Mexico)
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| Kemp's Ridley's are well known to be attracted to the richer feeding grounds and shallow inshore or near shore waters of the Gulf such as the mouth of the Mississippi River and Mexico's Campeche regions. During their feeding and nesting migrations, a Kemp's Ridley sea turtle can travel hundreds of miles. |
Eating habits of the growing Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle
The eating habits of the Kemp's Ridley sea turtle does not change very much from when they are first born and as they grow into mature adult sea turtles. The Kemp's Ridley sea turtles generally live their first years offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, these years are also know as the “lost years” in the life of the sea turtle. During the “lost years” they feed on small animals and plants that they find amongst the mats of algae that is floating around in the ocean. Once they are a bit more grown they will then return to the shallow coastal areas where crabs become their preferred food of choice. The eating habits of the Kemp's Ridley can sometimes get them into a bit of trouble, since the food of the Kemp's Ridley sea turtle may include a dinner of dead fish and shrimp, they are sometimes caught by people when they are closer to shore scavenging for food. People will catch the sea turtles and cut them open to get the eggs, the eggs are known to have aphrodisiac ingredients. They were also harvested, to the point of near extinction for their tender meat. The eating habits of the Kemp's Ridley turtle can be a filling diet but it can also put them in harms way, which is still a major concern for those trying to save them from extinction. |
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