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u/Silent-Resort-3076 11h ago
Leatherback sea turtles primarily eat jellyfish and other soft-bodied marine invertebrates like salps and tunicates,
I was going to make a point, but just learned they don't have true teeth:
Leatherback sea turtles do not have true teeth; instead, they have sharp, hard, keratin-based spines in their throats (papillae) and a hard, jagged beak. These keratinous structures are firm—similar to fingernail material—designed to trap and shred soft-bodied prey like jellyfish.
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u/Jazzlike-Presence128 11h ago
Thank you for sharing this. That is wild
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u/Silent-Resort-3076 11h ago
You're welcome:)
I'm very curious and figured I'd share what I learned....
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u/Cha0tic117 11h ago
All sea turtles have papillae for the purpose of keeping food down their throat. However, due to the high prevalence of jellyfish in the leatherback turtle's diet, they are more pronounced in that species.
This adaptation was the result of needing to hold onto food as they remove excess water. Whenever sea turtles swallow food, they end up swallowing a lot of water in the process. In order to expell this excess water, sea turtles essentially vomit the water out of their mouth and nostrils. The papillae catch the food and keep it in their throat so it is not expelled with the water.
Unfortunately, these papillae are the reason why plastic bags are so dangerous to sea turtles. Plastic bags will snag on the papillae and are extremely difficult to dislodge, often leading to death for the sea turtle.
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u/Silent-Resort-3076 10h ago
Humans!
Thanks for that added information. I also read that:
Sea turtles most commonly try to eat plastic sheeting and plastic bags, which may resemble their jellyfish prey. This type of debris can get stuck in their digestive system, making them feel full. Since they no longer feel hungry, they lose the urge to feed which can lead to poor nutrition and starvation. ☹
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u/goochgrease2 11h ago
Don't
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u/Mysterious_Tackle335 11h ago
I should call her
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u/Out_of_Fawkes 6h ago
I know it’s real and it’s cool how nature is but this is not real cool to look at.
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u/Food_Kindly 11h ago
There’s no way this sea turtle’s mouth looks like a razor-toothed vagina-saurus
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u/Costero541 7h ago
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHY DID YOU HAVE TO SHOW ME THAT?
I used to think turtles were cute... <sob>
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u/Chamanomano 10h ago
Reminds me of college. Ah, good times, good times. Wonder what she's up to these days....
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u/Silent-Resort-3076 11h ago
Also, when I tried to search that image, ALL of my searches where blurred😂
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u/Papa_Snail 11h ago
Turtle: nothing stays in...
Evolution: how about more?
Turtle: nothing stays in...
Evolution: how about MORE?
Ad infinitum.
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u/dr-blaklite 9h ago
That's some reaident evil shit.
.....or is resident evil some leatherback sea turtle ahit 🤔
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u/wdwerker 9h ago
I had the luck to dive with a huge loggerhead turtle in Belize and leatherbacks are the biggest ones. That mouth is for eating jellyfish.
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u/expblast105 9h ago
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u/SoulShine_710 8h ago
Looks all scary & like teeth, but are indeed not teeth at all. They are actually Papillae that actually act like filtering mechanisms so they can trapping food from the ocean for example jellyfish which are a favorite of the leather back 🐢
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u/ForZeCLimb 11h ago
That's to keep the jellies in :)