AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Talk Belize Photographs Hawksbill and Green turtles

Hard to tell the difference isn't it?

which is which?
One used to be legal to eat and one was not. Belize changed its laws and all are protected now.
//ambergriscaye.com/reefbriefs/briefs11.html

awww... turtles are SO cool!

seaexplore, which is which
? No one ever tried to guess.I posted it because I noticed folks seem to label every turtle as a hawks-bill. One of these is a green turtle.

i'm guessing: the first is the green and the last is the hawksbill.

good guess the hawks-bills have a jagged edge to their shells and four scales between the eyes where the green turtle has two scales and a smooth edge to the shell.
Green color isn't usually present but does come from a mossy, leafy
diet when they dine in areas where thats on the menu.
Thanks sweetjane

elbert: i guessed from the shape of the mouth, although it may have just been the angles of the pics that made them look different from each other.

BTW, bf wanted to know if you took these photos.

he is a 'turtle guy', wears a wooden turtle around his neck.

They came from a turtle tracking site on the net. I grabbed them to use as an illustration of the difference. Harriet posted a green turtle the other day as a Hawks-bill and I decided we could all use a little turtle ID lesson.
:-)