Sea turtle species of the Southeast Asian countries

Abstract

Six of seven species of living sea turtles in the world were confirmed to nest or inhabit the Southeast Asian waters. These are leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), green turtle (Chelonia mydas), olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea), hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and flatback turtle (Natator depressus); (Kamarruddin, 1993; Soehartono, 1993; Palma, 1993; Chantrapornyl, 1993; Sukarno et al., 1993; Chantrapornsyl, 1996 and Kamarruddin e t al., 1996). All these six species are commonly found in ASEAN waters except for the flatback which are found in eastern Indonesia. The flatbacks are known to nest in Australia but the foraging areas are in the Indonesian waters.