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Sea Creatures 101: Sea Turtles: The Hawksbill

© Sharon Rorem

So far in this series on sea turtles we've looked at the Loggerhead, Leatherback and Kemps Ridley. All of these are threatened or endangered turtles. There are two left in this series- Hawksbill and Green sea turtles. This month, it's the Hawksbill-probably the most well known sea turtle of the group.

A Hawksbill sea turtle is called that because of its beak-like jaw. The jaw is almost bird-like and sharp, and perfect for getting into small spaces. The species name, imbricata, came from the overlapping plates on the upper shell, or carapace. Carl Linnaeus named the species in 1766. The turtle in the photo is Keoki, a Hawaiian Hawksbill. The photo is from http://www.turtles.org/hawksd.htm This website gives great information on Hawksbills, and I want to make sure that they get credit for their wonderful photo. When you go to the website, click on the photo and you will see the larger version.

For many years, Hawksbills have been caught and killed for their shells. This is where "tortoise shell" jewelry, belt buckles, and other fashion accessories came from. China, Ceylon, India, Oceania, and Rome have used Hawksbill shells for hundreds of years in handcrafted objects. When sold as a commodity, the shell is called "bekko" (the Japanese word for tortoise shell.) The bekko industry in Japan can be traced back about 1,000 years. Bekko crafting has become a tradition in Japan. The Caribbean, Cuba, Indonesia, and Haiti do a fair amount of trade in bekko too. Since so many Hawksbills have been killed for bekko over so many years, people began to be concerned about the survival of the Hawksbill. On June 2, 1970, the Hawksbill was listed as an Endangered Species. For more on that information, click on this link: http://ecos.fws.gov/servlet/SpeciesProfi...

Hawksbill meat is considered a delicacy in many countries. There is a great deal of risk involved in consuming Hawksbill meat. Hawksbills carry a toxin in their skin called chelonitoxin. Their flesh is often full of toxins from the animals they eat. People who eat the skin and/or meat of a Hawksbill could experience nausea, burning sensation of the lips tongue and mouth, difficulty in swallowing and a tightness in the chest, skin rash, enlargement of the liver, or even coma and death. There are no antidotes for the toxin, yet people continue to eat Hawksbill meat and eggs.

Many organizations are dedicated to the survival of threatened and endangered species. One organization that is trying to control and regulate bekko trade is CITES- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Click on this link to get to that website: http://www.cites.org/.