Hawksbill Sea Turtle

Photo: Kevin Bryant · CC BY-NC-SA

Hawksbill turtles are abundant in Forbes Bay year-round, foraging on the sponge and soft coral communities that cover the bay's rocky substrate — their narrow, pointed beak adapted specifically for extracting sponges from reef crevices, a dietary specialisation that makes them the only significant marine consumer of sponges in tropical reef ecosystems. By selectively consuming competitively dominant sponge species, hawksbills prevent sponges from overgrowing and smothering coral colonies, maintaining the three-dimensional reef structure that other species depend on. Mafia Island supports one of Tanzania's most important hawksbill nesting populations, with females coming ashore on the island's quieter beaches between March and August, and juveniles from previous seasons regularly sighted foraging in Chole Bay.