Species in the spotlight : priority actions, 2016-2020. Pacific leatherback turtle, Dermochelys coriacea Pacific leatherback turtle, Dermochelys coriacea Species in the spotlight Pacific leatherback 5-year action plan

"The leatherback turtle is the largest turtle and one of the largest living reptiles in the world. As its name suggests, the leatherback is the only sea turtle that doesn't have a hard bony shell. Leatherbacks are found across the globe in temperate and tropical latitudes and are highly migratory. Pacific leatherbacks are split into western and eastern Pacific subpopulations based on their distribution and biological and genetic characteristics. Eastern Pacific leatherbacks nest along the Pacific coast of the Americas, primarily in Mexico and Costa Rica, and forage throughout coastal and pelagic habitats of the eastern tropical Pacific. Western Pacific leatherbacks nest in the Indo-Pacific, primarily in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. A proportion of this population migrates north through the waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Japan, and across the Pacific past Hawaii to feeding areas off the Pacific coast of North America. Another segment of the western subpopulation migrates into the southern hemisphere through the Coral Sea, into waters of the western South Pacific Ocean"--page 2, paragraph 1. U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service. "January 2016." Also available in print. System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Includes bibliographical references (pages 18-23). 2016 NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) Library Public Domain 1861