A report of nesting on a Maltese beach by the Loggerhead Turtle Caretta caretta (Linnaeus 1758) (Reptilia : Cheloniidae)

Abstract

Of the seven species of marine turtles in the world, five occur in the Mediterranean: the Loggerhead [Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758)], Green [Chelonia mydas (Linnaeus, 1758)], Kemp's Ridley [Lepidochelys kempi (Garman 1880)], Hawksbill [(Eretmochelys imbricata (Linnaeus, 1766)] and Leatherback [Dermochelys coriacea (Vandelli 1761)] (UNEP/IUCN, 1990; Arnold & Ovenden, 2002). Of these, only the first two listed now breed in the Mediterranean. The Leatherback is mainly an Atlantic species that regularly enters the Mediterranean in small numbers and apparently used to occasionally breed there, although there are no recent records of it doing so; the Hawksbill is a tropical species that only very rarely enters into the Mediterranean, while Kemp's Ridley is an Atlantic species for which there is only a single record from the Mediterranean (UNEP/IUCN, 1990; Arnold & Ovenden, 2002).