Hawksbills are one of the smaller species of sea turtle, growing
to about 3 ft in carapace length and weigh up to 180 lbs. They
have typical hard shells with unique features such as large thick,
overlapping (imbricate) scutes, deeply serrated carapacial margins
and a beak-like mouth. Like green turtles, hawksbills have only
four costal scutes on each side of its carapace. The lustrous
carapacial scutes possess a radiating figure of dark reddish-brown
or black on a cream to amber background. Many hawksbills have
barnacles attached to their shells. The plastron is generally
a light cream to amber in color which extends to the ventral surface
of head and limbs.
Hawksbill turtles are pan-tropical in distribution. They are particularly
fond of clear water coral reefs ecosystems, but may also be found
in shallow rocky inland waters and mangrove-edged inlets and bays.
Hawksbills have an unusual diet made up of fish, gastropods, echinoderms,
coelenterates, bryzoans, and in particular, sponges. Very few
vertebrates out side of a few marine fishes are known to consume
sponges which contain siliceous spicules that would lacerate the
mucosal lining of the alimentary tract of most animals.
Hawksbills prefer to nest on small tropical beaches and generally
deposit their eggs in a nest excavated within the beach-side vegetation
zone. Only a hint of a body pit is constructed and between 100
and 200 small, ping pong-sized eggs are laid. Female hawksbills
nest every three to five years and demonstrate a fair degree of
nest-site fidelity. The hawksbill nesting season in Bocas del
Toro extends from June to October, and peaks in August and September.
In the Bocas del Toro region, hawksbill nest in all sea-side beaches
but most numerously on Islas Zapatillas and Chiriqui beach.
