Hawksbill Sea Turtle

Photo: Manoj Karingamadathil · CC BY-SA

Hawksbill turtles are regularly encountered at South Drop-Off, using their distinctive narrow pointed beaks to extract sponges from within coral heads — prey that most other animals cannot safely eat due to the silica spicules embedded in sponge tissue. Their shells display the overlapping scutes and distinctive tortoiseshell pattern that made them a target of the historic tortoiseshell trade, and they remain critically endangered globally. The South Drop-Off population appears stable, with the same individuals recognised by shell pattern across multiple dive seasons.