Hawksbill sea turtle

Photo: Kevin Bryant · CC BY-NC-SA

Hawksbill turtles are ecologically critical to Caribbean reef function — their pointed beaks allow them to extract sponges from reef crevices, and sponge removal prevents fast-growing sponges from smothering slow-growing corals. Adults at Pompidou are highly site-faithful and can be identified by individual shell patterns, with some individuals documented using the reserve for over a decade. They are critically endangered globally due to historical shell trade, egg collection, and bycatch.