The Leatherback Turtle

Dermochelys coriacea

It is found thoroughout tropical and subtropical climates around the world, its migratory path plied widely about the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The Atlantic subpopulation has been known to appear on the New Brunswick coast between October and June. It is the largest of all living sea turtles, and the world's fourth largest reptilian.

The Leatherback produces four to ten clutches of eggs during seasonal breeding, each clutch containing between fifty and seventy eggs. Eggs and hatchlings come quickly under assault, and very few mature. Adults are vulnerable to chemical pollution, and though human cultivation is irregular 1,500 mature females were accidentally caught each year from 1990 to 2000. Many die from the consumption of plastic bags, which they commonly mistake for jellyfish.

The New Brunswick government lists the Leatherback as endangered as of 1996.