Nagata Turtle Garden

Nagata Beach on Yakushima's northwestern coast hosts one of Japan's most important loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) nesting sites, and the shallow reef immediately offshore is where divers encounter these animals outside nesting season. Loggerheads and green turtles (Chelonia mydas) graze on seagrass and rest on the reef from April through November; in summer nesting months (May to August) females can sometimes be observed in the nearshore shallows as dusk approaches. The reef itself sits between 6 and 20 m and features a mosaic of hard coral heads, seagrass patches, and rubble zones that support diverse reef fish assemblages typical of the boundary zone between subtropical and warm-temperate fauna. Endemic Yakushima reef fish including Pseudanthias hypselosoma appear on deeper coral slopes.