What species of sea turtle crawled onto the shore? Was it coming or going? When you encounter a sea turtle crawl, it is a fascinating track. Use this guide to learn more about identifying a sea turtle crawl.

Loggerhead Sea Turtle

Leatherback Sea Turtle

Green Sea Turtle

Wavy and smooth track center with no well-defined tail-drag mark

Crawl Characteristics

No regular marking from front flippers at the margins of the track

The loggerhead sea turtle is circumglobal and found throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Loggerheads are the most abundant species of sea turtle found in U.S. coastal waters.

Alternating comma shaped flipper marks

The green sea turtle is globally distributed and generally found in tropical and subtropical waters along continental coasts and islands between 30° North and 30° South.

Parallel flipper marks similar to a “butterfly-stroke” crawling patternRidged track center with a thin, straight, and well-defined tail-drag mark that is punctuated by tail-point marks  Regular marking from front flippers at the margins of the track EndFragment

Parallel flipper marks similar to a “butterfly-stroke” crawling patternRidged track center with a thin, straight, and well-defined tail-drag mark that is punctuated by tail-point marks Extensive marking from front flippers at the margins of the track and extending the total track width (6 - 7 feet) EndFragment

Leatherback sea turtles are the most migratory and wide ranging of sea turtle species. They can be found in the tropic and temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea. Adult leatherbacks also traverse as far north as Canada and Norway and as far south as New Zealand and South America. EndFragment