Rare & endangered sea turtle munches on seafloor grass

Green sea turtles are an endangered species that many parts of the world are working on raising their numbers of surviving hatchling babies. Once hatched almost 2 feet below the surface of a perfectly chosen beach, the baby turtles slowly make their way to the surface. Once above ground, they do their best to avoid their predators and make their way to the ocean. Crawling slowly, once they hit the waters edge, they are safe... for now. Within the ocean there are other predators these gorgeous creatures have to try to avoid, but that is not always possible. Mother Nature plays her role in life.

As the turtles grow and move to open waters, they are less dependent on hiding in floating grasses and sea weed. In this video you see two different species enjoying a meal in their natural habitat. Green sea turtles enjoy mainly grasses. Juvenile green turtles, however, will also eat invertebrates like crabs, jellyfish, and sponges. Hawksbill turtles have a slightly different diet. Their jaw has a different shape than the Green turtle, enabling them to feed on other sources of food. Hawksbills are found mainly throughout the world's tropical oceans, predominantly in coral reefs.

They feed mainly on sponges by using their narrow pointed beaks to extract them from crevices on the reef, but also eat sea anemones and jellyfish. All species of sea turtles are a joy to scuba dive along side. Watching their gracefulness can be mesmerizing as they drift and sway with the currents. As they eat they are fully involved in the task at hand and seem to ignore a diver within inches of his nose. What beautiful creatures.