Sea Turtle Crawl
Caretta caretta and others
Markings and exact colorations may vary.
Two parallel flipper tracks running up the beach and back — evidence a nesting turtle came ashore.
- Typical size
- 2–4 ft wide
- How often it turns up
- Seasonally common
- Collecting
- Protected, do not collect
- Handling
- Photograph and release
Never disturb a track, nest or marked area. Do not use white lights on the beach at night during nesting season. Report unmarked crawls to your local sea turtle patrol.
How to tell it apart
- Wide tractor-like track from the dune to the water
- Disturbed sand patch at the top
- Often marked with stakes by patrols
Found one?
Photograph it and BeachNut ranks the likely matches with a confidence read, then logs it to your collection with the beach and date.
Browsing beaches and the full field guide is free. A free account logs unlimited finds and gives you three photo identifications a day.
More not sure in the field guide
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