---
title: "Green Sea Turtle"
description: "Chelonia mydas — Reptiles. The green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), also known as the green turtle, black sea turtle, and Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/green-sea-turtle
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Green Sea Turtle

> Chelonia mydas — Reptiles. The green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), also known as the green turtle, black sea turtle, and Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae.

- Scientific name: *Chelonia mydas*
- Category: `reptiles` (Reptiles)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 48303
- Wikidata: [Q199458](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q199458)
- iNaturalist taxon: [39659](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/39659)

## Names

- en: Green Sea Turtle
- de: Grüne Meeresschildkröte
- es: Tortuga verde
- fr: Tortue verte
- nl: Soepschildpad
- pt: Tartaruga-verde
- pl: Żółw zielony

## Countries with the most observations

US (15128), AU (4148), EC (3312), MX (2410), ID (1406), NC (1277), BL (1089), BR (1054), PH (793), VI (652), EG (638), TW (617)

## Summary

The green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), 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.
The dorsoventrally flattened body of C…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_sea_turtle

## Photo

![Green Sea Turtle](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/green-sea-turtle/medium.jpg)

Photo: Zoltán Stekkelpak · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/145198160

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/green-sea-turtle?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).