What Does a Loggerhead Sea Turtle Eat? Essential Diet Facts

What does a loggerhead sea turtle eat? Mostly hard-shelled animals. Adult and juvenile loggerheads in coastal waters eat mainly bottom-dwelling invertebrates such as crabs, whelks, conchs, clams, and horseshoe crabs, according to NOAA Fisheries. Young loggerheads in the open ocean eat a wide variety of floating food. They only occasionally eat plant material.

This guide explains how a loggerhead’s diet changes as it grows, why it has such powerful jaws, where it finds food, and how ocean trash puts it at risk. Loggerheads are protected wild animals, not pets, so the best way to enjoy them is to watch from a respectful distance.

What Does a Loggerhead Sea Turtle Eat?

NOAA Fisheries says juveniles and adults in coastal waters eat mostly bottom-dwelling invertebrates, including mollusks, crustaceans, and horseshoe crabs, and only occasionally eat plant material. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service adds that loggerheads feed on mollusks, crustaceans, fish, and other marine animals.

How a Loggerhead’s Diet Changes as It Grows

The answer to “what does a loggerhead sea turtle eat?” depends a lot on the turtle’s age and where it lives.

Hatchlings and young juveniles: open ocean

After hatching, young loggerheads head out to sea. NOAA Fisheries says they spend their first 7 to 15 years in the open ocean, where they feed on a wide variety of floating items. The National Park Service notes that hatchlings and juveniles seek shelter and food in floating mats of Sargassum, a type of seaweed.

Older juveniles and adults: coastal waters

As they grow, loggerheads move into nearshore coastal areas, where they keep growing for a decade or more. Here they become bottom feeders. USFWS describes them feeding in lagoons, estuaries, bays, river mouths, and shallow coastal waters, where crabs and shellfish are plentiful.

Why Loggerhead Sea Turtles Have Powerful Jaws

The loggerhead gets its name from its big head. NOAA Fisheries explains that this large head supports powerful jaw muscles, which let the turtle crush hard-shelled prey such as whelks and conchs. Instead of teeth, loggerheads have the hard, crushing beak that NOAA describes as typical of most sea turtles.

Those jaws open up food that many other animals can’t reach. A whelk or conch shell is no match for an adult loggerhead.

Do Loggerhead Sea Turtles Eat Jellyfish or Plants?

Jellyfish

Yes, sometimes. The National Park Service lists jellyfish among loggerhead foods. A NOAA-hosted study of loggerheads in the southeastern US also tested cannonball jellyfish as one of the common local prey items, alongside blue crab, horseshoe crab, and whelk. But jellyfish aren’t the main food for most loggerheads. If you’re asking what does a loggerhead sea turtle eat most of the time, the answer is shellfish and crabs.

Plants

Loggerheads are mainly carnivores. NOAA Fisheries says they only occasionally eat plant material, and the National Park Service lists algae and seagrass among the foods they may eat. Plants are a small extra, not a staple.

Where Loggerheads Find Food

Loggerheads use a huge range of habitats. USFWS says they may be found hundreds of miles out to sea, and also in bays, lagoons, salt marshes, and estuaries.

• Open ocean: young turtles feed among floating mats of Sargassum and other drifting material.
• Coastal waters: older turtles feed on the bottom in bays, estuaries, river mouths, and shallow waters.
• Structure: USFWS notes that coral reefs, rocky places, and shipwrecks are often used as feeding areas.

What a US study found in their stomachs

Researchers examined the stomach contents of 153 loggerheads that stranded in coastal Georgia. Crustaceans were the most common prey, followed by bony fish, gastropods such as whelks, bivalves such as clams, and horseshoe crabs. Adults ate proportionately more gastropods, while subadults ate more fish. The authors note that diets shift with life stage and location, depending on what prey is available locally.

How big loggerheads get

All that shellfish fuels a big animal. NOAA Fisheries gives adult loggerheads a weight of about 200 to 350 pounds and a shell length of about 2.5 to 3.5 feet. USFWS reports that adults in the southeastern US average a straight shell length of about 36 inches (92 cm) and about 250 pounds (113 kg). Older versions of this article listed weights up to 440 pounds without a source, so we’ve replaced them with these figures.

Loggerheads vs. Green and Leatherback Sea Turtles

It’s easy to mix up sea turtle diets. Here’s how the answer to “what does a loggerhead sea turtle eat?” compares with two other species found in US waters.

NOAA Fisheries calls adult green turtles the only herbivorous sea turtles. Leatherbacks lack the crushing beak of other sea turtles and instead have backward-pointing spines in the mouth and throat to hold gelatinous prey. Loggerheads sit in between: carnivores built for hard shells.

Plastic, Fishing Gear, and Other Feeding Hazards

Sadly, part of the answer to “what does a loggerhead sea turtle eat?” includes things that were never food at all. Human trash can end up looking like prey. NOAA Fisheries warns that young loggerheads in the open ocean often mistake small fragments of plastic for food, and that released balloons can be mistaken for prey like jellyfish.

• Swallowing debris: NOAA says ingesting marine debris is a threat to all sea turtle species.
• Entanglement: turtles can become tangled in debris, including discarded fishing line and nets.
• Bycatch: NOAA calls accidental capture in fishing gear a primary threat to sea turtles.
• Other threats: USFWS lists pollution, boat strikes, disease, and loss of nesting beaches.

Common myths about loggerhead diets

• Myth: Loggerheads mainly eat jellyfish. Jellyfish are eaten sometimes, but crabs and shellfish are the core of the diet. Leatherbacks are the jellyfish specialists.
• Myth: All sea turtles eat seagrass. That describes adult green turtles. Loggerheads only occasionally eat plants.
• Myth: Sea turtles need people to feed them. Wild loggerheads find their own food, and NOAA says never to feed them.

How to Help Loggerheads (and Why Not to Feed Them)

Loggerheads are protected under the Endangered Species Act. NOAA Fisheries lists nine distinct population segments: five endangered and four threatened, including the threatened Northwest Atlantic population that nests in the Southeast US.

• Never feed or touch sea turtles. NOAA Fisheries says never to feed, attempt to feed, or touch them.
• Don’t keep one as a pet. Sea turtles are wild, protected animals.
• Report problems. If you see a stranded, injured, or entangled sea turtle, contact trained responders through NOAA’s reporting page.
• Cut the trash. Skip balloon releases, pack out plastic, and dispose of fishing line properly.
• Boat carefully. NOAA advises boaters to watch for turtles, slow down, and steer around them.

Love turtles and want one at home? Freshwater species are a different story. See our turtles section for pet turtle care guides.

What Does a Loggerhead Sea Turtle Eat? FAQs

What does a loggerhead sea turtle eat?

Mostly hard-shelled animals. Loggerheads eat crabs, whelks, conchs, clams, horseshoe crabs, and other invertebrates, plus fish and other prey depending on where they live.

Do loggerhead sea turtles eat jellyfish?

Sometimes. Jellyfish are part of the diet in some places and life stages, but crabs and shellfish make up most of what loggerheads eat. Leatherbacks are the sea turtles that specialize in jellyfish.

Do loggerhead sea turtles eat plants?

Only occasionally. NOAA Fisheries describes loggerheads as only occasionally eating plant material, such as algae or seagrass. They are mainly carnivores.

How does a loggerhead’s diet change as it grows?

Young loggerheads live in the open ocean for years and feed on a wide variety of floating items. As they grow, they move to coastal waters and feed mainly on bottom-dwelling prey like crabs and mollusks.

Why do loggerhead sea turtles have powerful jaws?

Their large heads support strong jaw muscles that let them crush the hard shells of prey such as whelks and conchs.

Can plastic harm loggerhead sea turtles?

Yes. Young loggerheads often mistake small plastic pieces for food, and turtles can become entangled in debris and fishing gear. Swallowed or tangled debris can injure them.

Final Verdict: What Does a Loggerhead Sea Turtle Eat?

So, what does a loggerhead sea turtle eat? Mainly crabs, whelks, conchs, clams, and other hard-shelled prey, crushed with powerful jaws. Young turtles feed on floating food in the open ocean before moving to coastal feeding grounds. Help them by keeping plastic and fishing line out of the water and enjoying them only from a distance.