Green Sea Turtle / Haggan
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Green Sea Turtle / Haggan
Chelonia midas
Native Resident Threatened Species (Federal) / Endangered Species (Guam)
The green sea turtle, or "haggan", is the most commonly sighted turtle in Guam's waters. They frequent the shallow reef areas around Guam while foraging for marine algae and seagrass. Fully grown adults can have a shell length of four feet (1.2 m) and can weigh over 300 pounds (136 kg). Sea turtles are long lived animals and grow reasonably slow averaging about 0.4 inches (1 cm) a year until mature and then 0.2 inches (0.5 cm). Using these growth rates, the larger adults are well over 50 years of age. The haggan is characterized by a shell colored with mottled shades of brown and a white to yellow underside. The shell plates are fused with no overlap, points or protrusions. The head has two plates between the eyes and each flipper has only one claw.
These turtles spend most of their lives in the ocean but once adults, will return every few years to the beach where they were born. Mating takes place a month or two prior to egg laying near the nest site and mating continues through the egg laying cycle. Females must be on the average, 23 years old to reach 32 inches (81 cm), the average size at first maturity. The female, once fertile, will crawl onto a sandy shoreline and use her flippers to dig a large pit above the high-water line near some vegetation. She will lay between 40-140 eggs depending on her size, and then cover them with sand. A female can lay as many as six clutches of eggs in one nesting season, which runs from April through July on Guam. The eggs take 50 to 90 days to hatch depending on conditions. The eggs will hatch near sunrise when two-inch (5 cm) long hatchlings emerge from their eggs, dig up through the sand, and start their journey to sea. Haggan still nest on some of Guam's more remote beaches throughout the island.
Turtle meat and turtle eggs were once prized food sources on Guam. The shells were used for decorative purposes. World-wide concern for overharvesting resulted in the haggan being listed on the Federal Threatened Species List and Guam Endangered Species List. It is illegal to capture, harass, possess, buy, sell, or transport the haggan or any part thereof including but not limited to eggs, shells, shell jewelry, and meat.
Guam Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy, 9/27/2005
