--- title: "Leatherback Sea Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) | AnimalTracks.wiki" description: "The only sea turtle with no hard shell, and big enough to keep its core warm in near-freezing seas." image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/leatherback-sea-turtle-1.webp" published: "2026-09-05" updated: "2026-09-27" --- # Leatherback Sea Turtle (*Dermochelys coriacea*) > **Status**: Checked against 7 sources, listed under Sources below. > **Tagline**: The only sea turtle with no hard shell, and big enough to keep its core warm in near-freezing seas. > **Soundtrack Vibe**: Cinematic Post-Rock & Ambient Crescendo // This Will Destroy You, "The Mighty Rio Grande" > **Soundtrack Links**: [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/37HI0imp0t6a0MBS00lPkS) | [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVScQyuuu6A) > **Vibe Match**: Slow-building post-rock with rhythmic, slow-motion power, for a turtle that can swim more than 10,000 miles a year between nesting beaches and feeding grounds. ## Biological Superpowers & Stats - **Taxonomy**: *Dermochelys coriacea* - **Danger Level**: Low - **Conservation Status**: Vulnerable ([IUCN Red List](https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2013-2.rlts.t6494a43526147.en)) - **Superpower**: Gigantothermy heat retention, and backward-pointing throat spines that help hold prey - **Habitat**: Open ocean worldwide, from mostly tropical nesting beaches to cold sub-polar waters short of the Arctic and Antarctic - **Diet**: Soft-bodied gelatinous prey such as jellyfish and salps - **Tags**: ocean, deep-sea, giant-size, carnivore, reptile ## Natural History & Behavior ## The Biggest Turtle Alive The leatherback sea turtle (*Dermochelys coriacea*) is the largest of all sea turtles and the fourth largest living reptile on Earth. NOAA Fisheries puts an adult at 750 to 1,000 pounds (about 340 to 450 kilograms) and 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 meters) long, and a 2025 review gives an average adult shell length of 130 to 190 centimeters. The heaviest on record, a dead male stranded on a Welsh beach, was weighed at 916 kilograms in 1988, though a 2015 review argues that weight is probably inaccurate. Nobody knows exactly how long a leatherback lives: NOAA calls the lifespan unknown but estimates 50 years or more, and a DNA-based method reported in a 2025 review estimates up to 90 years, longer than the 50 to 60 years of other sea turtle species. It is also the only sea turtle without scales or a hard shell. Its back is built from small, interlocking bony plates called osteoderms, sitting beneath tough, rubbery black skin and running in seven ridges that help water flow smoothly past. ## Beating the Cold-Blooded Rule No other sea turtle can keep its body warmer than the surrounding water. The leatherback can, and that lets it forage in the cold waters of the North Atlantic, the North Pacific and the Southern Ocean. A 2015 review of ocean giants explains how. Sheer bulk gives the turtle a low surface-area-to-volume ratio that slows heat loss and leaves room for a thick layer of blubber under its skin. Its blood vessels also work as heat exchangers that raise its internal temperature further. Researchers suggested a name for staying warm like this despite a low metabolic rate: gigantothermy. ## Diving Past a Kilometer Down That loose-jointed shell pays off underwater too. A 2015 materials-science study found that the flexible seams between the osteoderms let the leatherback's body squeeze smaller than a hard-shelled sea turtle's as it dives past 1,000 meters. NOAA reports that leatherbacks can dive to nearly 4,000 feet (about 1,200 meters), deeper than any other turtle, and stay down for up to 85 minutes. > **Backward-pointing throat spikes** These spines, called keratinous papillae, line the throat and esophagus and help hold jellyfish in place while the turtle pushes swallowed seawater back out. ## A Diet of Jelly Leatherbacks eat soft-bodied open-ocean prey such as jellyfish and salps, and a 2025 review says they consume about 73 percent of their own body weight a day. A leatherback may swallow floating balloons and plastic bags, mistaking them for food, and a 2013 global analysis found ocean-going leatherbacks and green turtles face the greatest risk of harm or death from swallowed debris. ## The Long Haul Leatherbacks make the longest migrations of any sea turtle, some swimming more than 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) a year between feeding grounds and nesting beaches that lie mainly in the tropics and subtropics. Their range stretches from Newfoundland and Norway to Argentina and South Africa. The leatherback is listed as endangered under the US Endangered Species Act and rated Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and NOAA estimates the global population has fallen 40 percent over the past three generations. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### How big does a leatherback sea turtle get? Nesting females typically weigh 275 to 560 kilograms, but the heaviest leatherback on record was a male, found dead on Harlech beach in Wales and weighed at 916 kilograms. There is little information on males, because they live entirely at sea and never return to nesting beaches. In green turtles the males are often smaller than the females, so a 2025 review suggests female leatherbacks could grow even bigger. *(Source: [Piboon et al. 2025]())* ### Why doesn't a leatherback sea turtle have a hard shell? It does have armor, just not the kind you can knock on. Every other turtle's bony shell is covered in hard keratin, but the leatherback's is covered in skin. Underneath, its bony plates are linked by collagen fibers, so a 2015 materials-science study found the shell can flex while still protecting the turtle. *(Source: [Chen, Yang & Meyers 2015]())* ### How does a cold-blooded reptile survive in near-freezing seas? Leatherbacks spend time diving in water as cold as 0.4 degrees Celsius, barely above the point where fresh water freezes. A 2015 review of ocean giants says their large size gives them some of the traits of warm-blooded animals, keeping their core temperature high in cold seas, and they are the only sea turtle commonly found in cold waters. *(Source: [McClain et al. 2015]())* ### Is the leatherback sea turtle endangered? Yes. NOAA Fisheries lists it as endangered, and its Pacific populations are the most at risk of extinction: Western Pacific leatherbacks have declined more than 80 percent and Eastern Pacific leatherbacks more than 97 percent in recent decades. Hunting of the turtles, egg harvest and bycatch in fishing gear are the primary causes of those Pacific declines. *(Source: [NOAA Fisheries]())* ## Sources 1. [Leatherback Turtle. NOAA Fisheries.]() 2. [Dermochelys coriacea (leatherback sea turtle). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.]() 3. [Wallace, Tiwari & Girondot (2013). Dermochelys coriacea. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T6494A43526147.]() 4. [McClain et al. (2015). Sizing ocean giants: patterns of intraspecific size variation in marine megafauna. PeerJ.]() 5. [Piboon et al. (2025). Biology, Nesting Behavior, Genetic Diversity, and Conservation of Leatherback Sea Turtles: Insights From Thailand and Global Perspectives. Ecology and Evolution.]() 6. [Chen, Yang & Meyers (2015). Leatherback sea turtle shell: A tough and flexible biological design. Acta Biomaterialia.]() 7. [Schuyler et al. (2013). Global Analysis of Anthropogenic Debris Ingestion by Sea Turtles. Conservation Biology.]() *Published September 5, 2026. 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