Did you know Green Sea Turtles (Chelonia mydas) are native to San Diego? These aquatic herbivores (vegetarians) are attracted to the bay’s warm, shallow waters where they can find food in the abundant eelgrass beds. The turtles feed on seaweed and sea grasses along the Southern California coast and migrate to nesting grounds off the Pacific Coast of Mexico.

Recently several green turtles have been spotted at several locations within the San Diego Harbor including by the Hornblower boat docks. These include the turtle pictured above, which was released along with several others with satellite tags offshore of San Diego. These green turtles are part of a joint sea turtle tracking study involving researchers from SeaWorld and National Marine Fisheries Service.