DIAMONDBACK TERRAPIN

The Diamondback Terrapin is a salt swamp turtle and lives only in brackish water. It lives in the coastal waters from Massachusetts down to Florida, and around to Texas. There are seven categories of Diamondback Terrapin, and it is Malaclemys terrapin centrata that lives here in northeast Florida. The turtle gets its name from the diamond-shaped designs on its shell.

Terrapins look much like their freshwater relatives, but are well adapted to the near coast marine environment. They have numerous adaptations that allow them to survive in changeable salinities. They can live in full strength salt water for extended periods of time, and their skin is largely resistant to salt.

The terrapin is a medium-sized turtle with a greenish brown shell. Some have white skin with dark spots, but others are a plain green or brown. The girls are 6 to 9 inches long with short tails, and the boys are 4 to 6 inches in length, with long tails. The terrapins eat fish, mollusks, and insects. Until the 1930’s, these turtles were thought to be food fragility, and were required approximately to extinction.

Today, not many people eat them, but they are in danger from unattended or lost crab traps. They get into the traps, and unless they are set free, they drown. It is also hard for them to find nesting areas, because many beaches are shattered or have too many houses on them.