Green Sea Turtle
Chelonia mydas
Sighting evidence at Poilão Turtle Beach Reef, Bijagós Islands
Photo: MARC MARTIN SOLA · CC BY-NC
Poilão hosts the largest green turtle nesting colony in West Africa, with population surveys recording thousands of nesting females during peak season from October to February. In the water, turtles are encountered at virtually every dive, either resting on coral heads, feeding on algae, or swimming purposefully between cleaning stations where wrasse remove barnacles and parasites from their shells. The density of turtles here reflects both the island's formal protected status and the extraordinarily low human footprint across the archipelago.
Evidence at this site
No confirmed records on file at this site
Green Sea Turtle is listed as a curated species here based on historical reports.