The leatherback sea turtle is a prehistoric giant that thrives in the open ocean.

Nature · Published 30 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: As the largest turtle on Earth, the leatherback is a biological outlier. Unlike its hard-shelled relatives, it sports a flexible, leathery carapace and has roamed the seas since the age of dinosaurs. These master navigators undertake epic migrations, diving to extreme depths to hunt soft-bodied prey in the deep.

The leatherback sea turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, is a unique marine reptile that diverged from other sea turtle families between 100 million and 150 million years ago. While its relatives in the family Cheloniidae possess hard, bony shells covered in scutes, the leatherback features a reduced bony architecture covered by thick, rubbery skin. This distinctive shell is marked by seven longitudinal ridges that taper to a blunt point, a design that, alongside its proportionally massive front flippers, makes the species uniquely equipped for long-distance foraging migrations.

These turtles are the most widely distributed reptiles on the planet, inhabiting the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. They are highly migratory, with some individuals traveling over 10,000 miles annually between their nesting beaches and foraging grounds. Unlike other sea turtles that rely on crushing beaks to consume hard-bodied prey, the leatherback has evolved sharp-edged jaws and backward-pointing spines in its throat, which are perfectly adapted for capturing and retaining gelatinous jellyfish and salps.

Despite their resilience, leatherback populations face significant threats. They are classified as endangered, with global numbers estimated to have declined by 40 percent over the last three generations. Major risks include incidental capture in fishing gear, the illegal collection of eggs, and the ingestion of floating plastic debris, which they often mistake for their jellyfish prey. In the Pacific, some nesting populations have seen declines exceeding 90 percent, prompting urgent recovery efforts to stabilize the species and prevent extinction.

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