Hawksbill Sea Turtle

Photo: Guillaume Amirault · © all rights reserved

Hawksbills shelter in the overhangs and chimneys of Prony's deeper flanks, emerging to feed on the sponges and tunicates growing on the wall faces between 20 and 35 metres. Several individuals are known to specific overhangs and encountered reliably on every visit, their tortoiseshell-patterned carapaces and narrow pointed beaks making them easy to distinguish from the green turtles seen in shallower water. The cave and chimney microhabitats at Prony provide refugia that may partly explain why this otherwise-endangered species is so visible here.