Which Sea Turtle??

[GertJan Verspui]

Good afternoon everybody, does any of you know which seaturtle this is?

Saw it in the Blue Hole, Barrier Reef, Belize.

Thanks!

[Daniel Kane]

I'd go with Hawksbill - the shape of the carapace, the serrations, and also the head shape - the head of your animal does not seem large enough to be a loggerhead, it appears to have two pairs of prefrontal scales so it cannot be a green, and, to me, the carapace seems the wrong shape to be a Kemp's or Olive Ridley. Aside from those species, I think we can quite safely discount a leatherback or flatback

If you compare the head scale pattern of your animal to this http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hawksbill_turtle_on_Pom_Pom_Island.jpg then you can see the scale arrangement of a hawksbill more clearly.

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

I lean towards the same conclusion.

[Kristian Munkholm]

I'l third the verdict.

In addition to what Daniel already said, here's a key that should make it pretty clear why (arrangement of scutes & prefrontals): http://www.reef.org/reef_files/TurtleID.pdf

[GertJan Verspui]

Cheers amigos, very handy link Kristian, thanks!!