Sea turtle (Reptilia, Testudines) diversity and occurrence in the Azores Archipelago (NE Atlantic)

Six species of marine turtles occur in the Azores Archipelago. The loggerhead, Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758), is by far most common and being constantly monitored tagged a joint project between University Florida since 1989. With implementation tuna fishery observers (for dolphin safe seals), an increment sea turtle reports has been verified as expected. leather back turtle, Dermochelys coriacea (Vandelli, 1761) second observed Azores' EEZ, fact probably also linked to observation programme. All other are occasional/vagrant albeit green Chelonia mydas 1758) more commonly seen than others. Historically, were occasionally taken for food specific fishing villages ports. Since 1986, turtles, well all mammals, fully protected although human-related activities (e.g. plastics, discarded gear) do generate serious injuries deaths. In this paper, we update species' checklist give detailed geographic coordinates on their known occurrences.