Hawksbill Sea Turtle

Photo: Kevin Bryant · CC BY-NC-SA

Hawksbills forage regularly among the MUSA sculptures, targeting the sponges that now colonise the concrete in quantity — sponges form the majority of a hawksbill's diet and the sculptures provide an unusually concentrated food source in relatively shallow water. Their narrow, pointed beaks allow them to extract sponges from crevices in the statues that other reef grazers cannot access. Encounters are unhurried, as the turtles seem habituated to divers and snorkellers in this high-traffic but strictly regulated site.