The Flatback Turtle, Chelonia depressa, in Queensland: Post-Nesting Migration and Feeling Ground Distribution

Abstract

Between 1968 and 1981, a total of 813 adult female flatback turtles were tagged while nesting on Queensland beaches. Eight have been recovered at a distance, 216-1300 km north of their respective nesting beaches, in waters between the mainland and the Great Barrier Reef. The species' principal feeding grounds seem to be in turbid, shallow inshore water off north-eastern Australia and in the Gulf of Carpentaria; there are no records beyond the continental shelf.