Leatherback Sea Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
Leatherback Sea Turtle overview
The leatherback is the largest living turtle and one of the heaviest reptiles on Earth. Instead of a hard shell it has a flexible, rubbery carapace of thick skin over a mosaic of small bones, marked by seven lengthwise ridges. It is the only surviving member of its family, Dermochelyidae. Leatherbacks are built for the open ocean: they cross entire ocean basins between tropical nesting beaches and cold, jellyfish-rich feeding grounds, and they dive deeper than any other turtle. A large body, thick fat and a heat-exchanging blood supply let them stay warm in water that would stun other sea turtles.
| Scientific name | Dermochelys coriacea |
| Also called | Leatherback turtle, Leatherback, Leathery turtle, Lute turtle |
| Class | Reptilia (reptiles) |
| Order · Family | Testudines · Dermochelyidae |
| Habitat | Open ocean, Continental shelf waters, Cold temperate seas, Tropical nesting beaches |
| Range | The widest range of any reptile: all tropical and temperate oceans, north to Alaska, Canada and Norway and south to New Zealand and the tip of Africa. |
How Long Do Leatherback Sea Turtles Live?
Leatherback sea turtles are estimated to live about 45–50 years, though their true lifespan is not well known and could be longer. Unlike hard-shelled turtles they are very difficult to age, and they do not survive well in captivity, so the figures come from growth models and tagging studies.
How Much Does a Leatherback Sea Turtle Weigh?
Adult leatherback sea turtles weigh 250–700 kg (550–1,540 lb). They are the heaviest turtles alive and among the heaviest living reptiles. The largest on record, a male that washed ashore in Wales in 1988, weighed 916 kg (about 2,020 lb).
How Long Is a Leatherback Sea Turtle?
A leatherback's shell is 1.3–1.8 m (4.3–5.9 ft) long, and large adults measure more than 2 m from head to tail. The front flippers are the longest of any sea turtle relative to body size and can span about 2.7 m (9 ft) in big adults.
How Fast Can a Leatherback Sea Turtle Swim?
Leatherback sea turtles normally swim at 2–10 km/h (1–6 mph), based on satellite tracking. A top speed of about 35 km/h (22 mph) is widely repeated, but it is poorly documented and should be treated as a claimed burst rather than a typical speed.
How Long Do Leatherback Sea Turtles Eggs Take to Hatch?
Leatherback eggs incubate for 60–70 days in the sand. A female lays roughly 80–100 fertile eggs per nest, along with a number of small yolkless eggs, and may nest five to seven times in one season. Warmer sand produces more female hatchlings.
What Do Leatherback Sea Turtles Eat?
Leatherback sea turtles are carnivores that eat almost nothing but jellyfish and similar soft-bodied animals such as salps. Backward-pointing spines line the mouth and throat to keep slippery prey from escaping. Because they target jellyfish, leatherbacks often swallow floating plastic bags by mistake.
Diet type: carnivore. Almost entirely jellyfish and other soft-bodied drifting animals such as salps and pyrosomes. Because this prey is mostly water, a leatherback may eat a large fraction of its own body weight in a day.
Where Do Leatherback Sea Turtles Live?
Leatherback sea turtles live in the open ocean and have the widest range of any reptile, from the tropics to cold waters off Canada, Norway and New Zealand. They come ashore only to nest, on tropical and subtropical sandy beaches with deep-water approaches.
Are Leatherback Sea Turtles Endangered?
The leatherback sea turtle is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and the global population is decreasing. Several subpopulations, including those in the Pacific, are assessed as Critically Endangered. The main threats are fishing bycatch, egg harvesting, loss of nesting beaches and swallowing plastic.
Vulnerable
Leatherback Sea Turtle fun facts
- Leatherbacks are the deepest-diving turtles, with recorded dives of more than 1,000 m (3,300 ft), deeper than many whales routinely go.
- The leatherback has no hard shell; its carapace is leathery skin stretched over thousands of tiny bone plates, which flexes under pressure at depth.
- Leatherbacks can keep their body temperature well above that of the surrounding water, which lets them feed in seas close to freezing.
- Tagged Pacific leatherbacks have crossed the whole ocean from nesting beaches in Indonesia to feeding grounds off the US West Coast, a journey of more than 10,000 km.
- The leatherback's lineage dates back more than 100 million years, and it is the last living species of its family.
Rankings and comparisons
Leatherback Sea Turtle FAQ
Why is it called a leatherback?
It is named for its shell, which is not hard and bony like other sea turtles' but covered in tough, rubbery, leather-like skin. Beneath the skin lies a layer of small interlocking bones, and seven ridges run the length of the back to help the turtle move efficiently through water.
How deep can a leatherback sea turtle dive?
Leatherbacks can dive deeper than 1,000 m (3,300 ft), and dives of around 1,200 m have been recorded. Most dives are much shallower. A flexible shell, collapsible lungs and large oxygen stores in the blood and muscles allow them to withstand the pressure.
What is the biggest leatherback ever recorded?
The largest leatherback on record was a male found dead on a beach at Harlech, Wales, in 1988. It weighed 916 kg (about 2,020 lb) and measured nearly 3 m (roughly 9 ft) in total length. It is displayed at the National Museum Cardiff.
Are leatherback sea turtles dangerous?
No. Leatherbacks are not aggressive toward people and feed on jellyfish. They have sharp-edged jaws and a very powerful body, so a stressed turtle could injure someone at close quarters, but they pose no real threat. It is illegal to disturb them in most countries.
How many leatherback sea turtles are left?
There is no precise global count. Sea turtles are usually counted as nesting females, and estimates put the world total in the tens of thousands of nesting females. Atlantic numbers are much stronger than Pacific ones, where nesting has fallen by more than 80 percent in recent decades.
Related animals
Sources: IUCN Red List · Animal Diversity Web · Wikipedia · Wikidata. Reviewed 2026-09-21. Figures are typical adult ranges; individuals and populations vary. How we compile this data.