Green sea turtle
Scientific name: Chelonia mydas (Linnaeus, 1758)
Overview
The green sea turtle, also known as the green turtle, black sea turtle, and Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus Chelonia. Its range extends throughout tropical and subtropical seas around the world, with two distinct populations in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but it is also found in the Indian Ocean. The common name refers to the usually green fat found beneath its carapace, due to its diet strictly being seagrass, not to the color of its carapace, which is olive to black.
From the Wikipedia article “Green sea turtle”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Conservation status
Least concern on the IUCN Red List, as recorded on Wikidata, citing “The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025.2”, publication of the biannual update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Where it lives
The Catalogue of Life records it in: Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, chiefly in the tropics..
Common names
Also known in English as Green turtle.
Names in other languages (13)
- Arabic
- سلحفاة بحرية خضراء
- Bengali
- সবুজ সাগর কাছিম
- Chinese
- 海龜, 石龜, 綠海龜, 綠蠵龜, 绿海龟, 菜龜
- French
- Tortue comestible, Tortue franche, Tortue verte
- German
- Grüne Meeresschildkröte
- Indonesian
- Penyu hijau
- Japanese
- アオウミガメ
- Persian
- لاکپشت سبز
- Portuguese
- Aruanã, Depeia, Falso-Carei, Jereba, Suçuarana, Tartaruga-Apedrês
- Russian
- Зелёная черепаха
- Spanish
- Tortuga Blanca, Tortuga Blanca de Mar, Tortuga Verde
- Turkish
- Yeşil kaplumbağa
- Urdu
- سبز سمندری کچھوا
Related animals
Sources
-
Catalogue of Life — scientific name, classification, common names and range.
Version 2026-09-11, CC BY 4.0.
This species in the Catalogue of Life.
Citation
Bánki, O., Roskov, Y., Döring, M., Ower, G., Hernández Robles, D. R., Plata Corredor, C. A., Stjernegaard Jeppesen, T., Örn, A., Pape, T., Hobern, D., Garnett, S., Little, H., DeWalt, R. E., Miller, J., Orrell, T., Aalbu, R., Abbott, J., Aedo, C., Aescht, E., et al. (2026). Catalogue of Life (Version 2026-09-11). Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgz5n Source database: The Reptile Database.
- GBIF — species page and recorded occurrences.
- Wikidata — conservation status, names in other languages. Q199458, CC0 1.0.
- Wikipedia — overview, from the article “Green sea turtle”, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Photo — Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
- Range map — Pinpin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
Last updated: 4 October 2026