Hawksbill Sea Turtle

Photo: Kevin Bryant · CC BY-NC-SA

Hawksbill turtles feed on the sponges and soft corals growing on the Rock Point East wall, using their narrow pointed beak to extract sponge tissue from crevices that other animals cannot access. By consuming sponges, they perform a critical ecological service — sponges are fierce competitors for reef space and without hawksbill predation they can overgrow coral colonies. Their critically endangered status makes every encounter at this protected site a significant conservation observation.