Species profile
Dermochelys coriacea
Leatherback sea turtle
This is a curated published estimate, not a live census. Estimates may refer to mature individuals, wild individuals or a documented range and are not directly comparable between species.
VU · Vulnerable — Vulnerable — high risk of extinction in the wild
About this species
Leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is part of the curated SpeciesWatch catalogue and is classified as Vulnerable. The leatherback is the largest sea turtle on Earth — adults can exceed two metres and 700 kg — and instead of a hard shell it has a leathery, oil-saturated carapace. Its recorded population direction is decreasing, so the category needs to be read alongside continuing losses of individuals or local populations.
Habitat, behaviour and ecological role
This profile associates the species with marine, pelagic. These labels summarise environments used during different stages of its life rather than drawing an exact range boundary. Leatherbacks dive deeper than 1,200 metres in search of jellyfish, their main food, which makes them the deepest-diving reptiles known. Its anatomy and behaviour are responses to those environments, while movement can connect distant places requiring different forms of management.
Why this species is at risk
Unlike most reptiles, leatherbacks keep their body temperature above the surrounding water, letting them hunt in cold seas from Norway to Patagonia. The catalogue records 4 principal pressures for this profile: Bycatch in longlines, Egg harvesting, Plastic pollution, Beach development. They should not be treated as isolated causes. Habitat change, exploitation, pollution, disease and climate stress can reinforce one another, while the importance of each pressure varies between regions and through time.
Conservation outlook
Protecting and reconnecting habitat is a priority, together with infrastructure planning that keeps feeding, breeding or migration routes functional. Fishery management needs enforceable limits, more selective gear, bycatch reduction and coordinated compliance across jurisdictions. Actions need long-term monitoring and revision as evidence changes; a positive intervention in one place does not by itself represent recovery across the species.
Editorial review: 2026-08-21
Threat factors
Known occurrences
Dots are georeferenced occurrence records from OBIS (marine) and GBIF (global), not individual animals and not a complete range map. Up to 500 recent API results are cached; the profile renders at most 500 points.
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