Olive Ridley Sea Turtle

The olive ridley turtle, as its name implies, has skin that is often described as olive green color.  It is a small turtle that rarely reaches one meter in length and 45 kg.  The shell has 7 vertebral scutes running down the middle of the carapace.

The olive ridley inhabits tropical and subtropical coastal bays and estuaries where they feed on crustaceans, mollusks, and gastropods.  They are found in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans.  In Central America and India females nests in large aggregations called ‘arribadas’.  The Orissa Coast of India maintains the largest aggregation where an estimated 500,000 nesting females came ashore during one week in 1991.  In Ghana, olive ridleys are solitary nesters and most likely nest along the entire coast where there is appropriate nesting habitat.  In Ada Foah, we suspect this turtle is nesting year round although that has not yet been confirmed. 

Olive Ridley turtles are currently listed as threatened although this species is considered to have the highest population of all species.  Unfortunately, many of their nesting beaches are under threat due to development and there is heavy interaction with commercial fisheries in coastal habitats.  In Ghana, this species is commonly taken off the beach to be harvested and the meat sold in the markets.  Because of their size, it is easy for poachers to quickly remove nesting females from the beach where they can slaughter the turtle away from the eyes of the enforcement agencies.