Loggerhead turtle

Photo: MARC MARTIN SOLA · CC BY-NC

The largest hard-shelled sea turtle, loggerheads are named for their disproportionately large head which houses powerful jaw muscles capable of crushing the shells of conch, crabs, and horseshoe crabs. On Caribbean reefs they are more often associated with deeper, coarser-substrate foraging areas than hawksbills. Vulnerable globally; nesting beaches in Anguilla are protected. Divers most often find them foraging slowly across the outer reef or resting in sandy gutters beneath the wall overhang.