Green Sea Turtle

Photo: sharksally · CC BY-NC

Green turtles are daily visitors to Apo Island's cleaning stations, where they hover motionless while cleaner wrasse remove algae, parasites, and dead skin from their shells and skin. As herbivores, they play a critical role in controlling seagrass and algae growth, maintaining habitat balance across coral and seagrass ecosystems. Apo Island's protected status has allowed the local population to stabilize, and individual turtles can be recognized by their facial scale patterns across multiple seasons.