The Feeding Ecology of the West Caribbean Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) in Nicaragua

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Abstract
The stomach contents of 243 subadult and adult green turtles, C. mydas, taken at their foraging grounds off the eastern coast of Nicaragua, were examined. The sex and site of capture of most of the turtles were known. Turtle grass, Thalassia testudinum, accounted for an average of 78.9% of the dry weight of the samples. The turtles were found to graze at the bases of the Thalassia plants where they obtained the youngest growth. They avoided those blades which were encrusted with epiphytic animals and plants. In decreasing order of abundance, the remaining food items comprised: other species of seagrasses (9.7%), algae (8.2%), benthic substrate (1.8%) and animal matter (1.4%). In the northern part of the Nicaraguan foraging range Thalassia accounted for nearly 90% of the diet, while in the more southerly portions fleshy red algae predominated. Turtles migrating between the feeding and nesting grounds travel near shore, at which time they consume greater amounts of Syringodium filiforme, red algae, and highly lignified terrestrial debris deposited at river mouths. No difference in the diets of the 2 sexes was recorded.

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