The Loggerhead Sea Turtle-Monster or Gem A reddish-brown, 300 pound reptile, with a jaw more powerful than an alligator's for its size, is commonly found in the coastal waters of South Carolina and Georgia. It is not a monster from the deep, but a graceful and often serene federally threatened loggerhead sea turtle. Sea turtles, like the loggerhead, are reptiles and as such are related to land turtles, lizards, and snakes. Modified to live in the ocean, loggerheads have adapted powerful flippers instead of legs and a fused, aerodynamic body and shell which enables them to move quickly and elegantly though the sea. Due to gravity and their large size, sea turtles are unable to retract their extremities into their shell. Instead loggerheads must rely on strong swimming ability, size, and a protective outer shell to escape predation. Loggerheads normally weigh 170 to 315 pounds and attain a length of 31 to 49 inches. These immense proportions predictably deter most predators, leaving only large carnivorous animals, such as sharks and humans, with the ability to catch and eat these well adapted sea turtles. Like all reptiles, a sea turtle's body temperature depends on the temperature of its surrounding environment. This dependence on external heat can inhibit the animal's activity in colder waters and its ability to live outside tropical environments. The loggerhead has adapted to the southern temperate region along the southeastern coast of the United States and is commonly seen resting, feeding, swimming, and nesting in this area. Aptly named for their broad, massive skulls, loggerheads have powerful jaw muscles and strong beak-like jaws which they use to eat hard, shelled animals such as crabs and clams. Although loggerhead sea turtles are primarily bottom feeders, they also eat planktonic sea jellies obtained while swimming and resting near the sea surface. (Sea Turtles have front and rear pairs of paddle-like flippers. The front flippers, once thought to be used like oars for swimming, function similar to the wings of an airplane-utilizing layers of water to provide lift and propulsion through the ocean. The result is a powerful, yet graceful, swimming stroke that provides the turtle with a means of escape from predators, an ability to migrate from resting/feeding grounds to breeding grounds, and the ability to descend and ascend to the sea surface for breathing.) Little is known about swimming and foraging behaviors nor habitat utilization of the loggerhead sea turtle, with even less information available on the relatively small Georgia/South Carolina nesting population. Current efforts exist to increase the knowledge base concerning these majestic and federally protected turtles. top