Diamondback Terrapin
| Class: Reptilia:
Reptiles |
Diet: Shellfish |
| Order:
Chelonia: Turtles and Tortoises |
| Size: 10
- 23 cm (4 - 9 in) |
| Family: Emydidae:
Emydid Turtles |
Conservation Status:
Vulnerable |
| Scientific Name:
Malaclemys terrapin |
Habitat: salt marshes,
estuaries, lagoons |
| Range:
USA: Atlantic and Gulf coasts |
 This
terrapin is the only North American emydid adapted for life in brackish
and salt water. It is a strong, fast-swimming turtle with large hind limbs.
Females are bigger than males. Diamondbacks spend their days on mud
flats or tidal marshes, feeding on snails, clams, and worms and on some
plant shoots. At night they bury themselves in mud, and in the northern
part of their range they hibernate during the winter, buried in the mud.
Diamondbacks mate in the spring and lay 5 to 18 eggs in cavities which
they dig in the marshes or dunes.
  
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