This large sea turtle is named after the green color of its body fat, a coloring that results from the Green Turtle’s unique herbivorous diet. Adults live on a diet of seagrass and algae, which they graze from the bottom of shallow water, tearing up the vegetation with their serrated jaws.
Young Green Turtles do eat invertebrates such as crabs, shrimp and jellyfish. When feeding, Green Turtles typically stay under water for 5 to 10 minutes, but when resting they can stay under for 2 to 3 hours! They don’t need to come up for air during that time because their muscles and blood store large quantities of oxygen; their heart rate also drastically slows down to conserve as much oxygen as possible