Hawksbill Sea Turtle

Photo: Kevin Bryant · CC BY-NC-SA

Hawksbill turtles use Buck Island's reef as a feeding ground, targeting the sponges that grow prolifically in the coral framework — a diet that makes them functionally critical for reef health, since unchecked sponge growth can smother coral. Their narrow, pointed beak allows them to extract sponge tissue from crevices inaccessible to other grazers. Critically endangered globally, Buck Island's hawksbill population benefits from federal monument protections and a long-running tagging programme that has tracked individuals to nesting sites across the wider Caribbean.