Overview

Birth of a Coral Island

Nature of Coral

Flowers of the Reef

The Echinoderms

Amazing Defensive Weapon

Turtles of the Reef

Strange Behavior of Reef Crabs

A Deadly Killer

World's Largest Shellfish

Strange Oysters of the Reef

Rare fish of the Coral Seas

Unusual Vegetation

Birds in Millions

Angling Unsurpassed

Turtles of the reef

Turtles are an interesting feature of the life of the Reef, particularly during the summer months when the females come ashore to lay their eggs. There are three principal species: the loggerhead, the hawksbill and the green turtle.

The Loggerhead. The Loggerhead is the largest, growing to a weight of about 1,500 lb. It lives on fish and shellfish, and its rank flesh is not favored by white people though it is enjoyed by the blacks'.

The Hawksbill Turtle. The Hawksbill Turtle is the smallest of the three. It attains a weight of only 300 lb., and although its flesh is held in disfavor, its carapace provides the tortoise-shell of commerce, greatly valued before the advent of plastics and clever imitations.

The Green Turtle. The Green Turtle, the commonest species, feeds on vegetable life and grows to a weight of about 500 lb. Its flesh and the rich soup prepared from it are highly esteemed. From the end of October till the end of February the females leave the water, usually at night, and laboriously heave their way up the sandy beaches to well beyond the limits of the tide, where they set about digging a pit in the soft sand for the deposition of their eggs. A spot free from obstacles having been chosen, the turtle vigorously scoops the sand back with her front flippers and shovels it away with her hind flippers. When the depression is large enough to accommodate her whole body, a smaller egg-pit is dug to a depth of about eight inches, and egg-laying commences. The eggs are round with a parchment-like shell and are about the size of ping-pong balls. From 50 to 200 may be laid at a sitting, the average being about 120.

Turtles ' eggs differ from those of most other animals, for the whites do not coagulate when boiled. They do not usually find favor with white people, but they were relished by the blacks, who would roam about the turtles' egg-laying haunts thrusting their spears into the sand to locate the nests.

When egg-laying is completed, the turtle scoops the sand back into the pit, pats it down with her flippers and returns to the sea. Hatching is accomplished by the heat of the sun, the incubation period lasting from nine and a half to ten and a half weeks. When the young turtle breaks through the shell, it crawls to the surface of the sand, and should it arrive there during daylight it usually waits till nightfall before emerging, for in daylight it is preyed upon by gulls, herons and terns, and it would have little chance of reaching the water. It loses no time in making for the sea as soon as it is dark, and with a paddle-like motion of its flippers it struggles across the sand as fast as possible.

Tourists holidaying on the Great Barrier Reef frequently derive great enjoyment riding the larger turtles into the water. Kneeling on their backs and holding the front edge of the carapace with both hands, they have no difficulty sitting their mount while the turtle is on the sand; but once it enters the water it is necessary to keep the turtle at the surface by sitting well aft, otherwise it will throw the rider by diving suddenly.