Locals flocked to El Zonte beach, El Salvador, to watch hundreds of olive ridley sea turtle hatchlings crawl towards the sea in October 2021.
A group on nestlings of the olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) is released, after being born in the El Zonte Beach, in La Libertad, El Salvador. Also known commonly as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is the second-smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world. L. olivacea is found in warm and tropical waters, primarily in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, but also in the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
This turtle and the related Kemp's ridley turtle are best known for their unique synchronized mass nestings called arribadas, where thousands of females come together on the same beach to lay eggs. The olive ridley turtle has a circumtropical distribution, living in tropical and warm waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans from India, Arabia, Japan, and Micronesia south to southern Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
In the Atlantic Ocean, it has been observed off the western coast of Africa and the coasts of northern Brazil, Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, and Venezuela. Additionally, the olive ridley has been recorded in the Caribbean Sea as far north as Puerto Rico. A female was found alive on an Irish Sea beach on the Isle of Anglesey, Wales, in November 2016, giving this species its northernmost appearance. It was taken in by the nearby Anglesey Sea Zoo, while its health was assessed.
A juvenile female was found off the coast of Sussex in 2020. The olive ridley is also found in the eastern Pacific Ocean from the Galápagos Islands and Chile north to the Gulf of California, and along the Pacific coast to at least Oregon. Migratory movements have been studied less intensely in olive ridleys than other species of marine turtles, but they are believed to use the coastal waters of over 80 countries. Historically, this species has been widely regarded as the most abundant sea turtle in the world. More than one million olive ridleys were commercially harvested off the coasts of Mexico in 1968 alone.
The olive ridley is classified as vulnerable according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, and is listed in Appendix I of CITES. These listings were largely responsible for halting the large-scale commercial exploitation and trade of olive ridley skins.
