Although very rare, we do have sea turtles in Hong Kong. The Hawksbill turtle and the The Green Sea Turtle are the main ones sighted in the seas off our coasts and islands, with the latter the only sea turtle species known to breed in Hong Kong.
Turtles breathe air, but they can spend as much as 3 hours without coming up for air. They prefer to swim in open water, but are also encountered close to reefs, where they come to feed.
Most turtles are omnivorous, but love to feed on jellyfish, sponges, soft corals, crabs, squids and fishes. One big problem for them is that the many plastic bags in the ocean look like jellyfish to them. Turtles live and mate at sea. Turtles are built for swimming, so they appear very slow and clumsy when on land. A single female lays around 50-150 eggs in a hole she makes on the beach.
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