Loggerhead Turtles (caretta caretta) are found in coral reefs, bays and estuaries in tropical and subtropical waters around the world; including the coast of Queensland, Northern Territory, New South Wales and Western Australia - including Coral Bay.

Loggerheads are carnivorous, feeding mostly on shellfish, crabs, sea urchins and jellyfish.

Characteristics include:

• 5 pairs (rarely 6) of large scales on each side (coastal scales)

• Carapace (protective, shell-like covering on the back of the turtle) longer than wide

• Adult carapace approx. 1.0m

• Colour red-brown to brown

The loggerhead turtle has lost 50-80% of its annual nesting population in the last decade. Further loss of only hundreds of large loggerhead turtles may threaten the survival of the species in Australia.
In Australia, loggerheads nest on the southern Great Barrier Reef and adjacent mainland coastal areas. Other significant nesting areas are in Western Australia including Murion Island, Ningaloo (Coral Bay) and further south near Shark Bay.

Females originally tagged near the south east Queensland rookeries have been recaptured in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, the Northern Territory, New South Wales and other parts of Queensland.

Similarly, Loggerheads tagged in Western Australia have been recaptured in the Northern Territory, Indonesia and other parts of Western Australia.

Loggerhead turtles nest from late October, reaching a peak in late December and finish nesting in late February. Hatchlings emerge from nests from late December until about April with most hatching from February to early March.

The loggerhead is one of the more visible turtles on the lower west coast of Western Australia, with resident adult and large sub-adult turtles sometimes found in the Perth region. Small young-of-the year (post-hatchling) loggerheads from the Gascoyne region breeding beaches are also regularly washed ashore during winter-early spring after westerly storms around the south and lower western coasts of Western Australia.

The main threat to Western Australian coastal-nesting loggerhead turtles is the risk of predation of nests and hatchlings by foxes which invaded the Ningaloo coast in the 1940s and early 1950s. Fox baiting programs implemented at Ningaloo coast nesting beaches have reduced nest predation rates. Continuing enhanced reproductive success resulting from the fox-baiting programs will potentially assist recovery of numbers in the Ningaloo Coast area.

There are however unresolved regional commercial trawl and longline fisheries interaction problems of the past that affected all populations.

Disturbance to mainland nesting loggerheads from vehicles driving on beaches and uncontrolled tourist interactions also occurs.

This page not only has a lot of information about marine turtles, but have a look at my other related topics including:

• Life-cycle of Marine Turtles

• Green Turtles

• Marine Turtles at Coral Bay,Ningaloo Reef

• Hawksbill Turtles