CreatureData

Flatback sea turtle

Natator depressus (Garman, 1880)

DDData Deficientturtles and tortoises

The flatback sea turtle (Natator depressus) is a reptile in the turtles and tortoises group, belonging to the family Cheloniidae in the order Testudines. It falls in the large size class, with a representative adult body mass of 74.4 kg.

Flatback sea turtle (Natator depressus)
Photo: Lyndie Malan · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the flatback sea turtle

Clutches hold 52.8 eggs as a representative value, with 2.42 clutches per year and an egg incubation period of 50.1 days. On the IUCN Red List, the global assessment places the flatback sea turtle in the Data Deficient (DD) category.

Weight
74.4 kgsrc for Weight
Length
76 cm – 96 cmsrc for Length
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
coastalsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
50.1 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
52.8src for Young per litter or clutch
Litters or clutches a year
2.42src for Litters or clutches a year
Conservation status
Data Deficient (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the flatback sea turtle?

FLATBACK SEA TURTLE · LENGTH 96 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 96 cm, the recorded maximum length of the flatback sea turtle is about 56% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the flatback sea turtle

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Flatback sea turtle (Natator depressus)
Alan Riverstone McCulloch (1885-1925) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the flatback sea turtle live?

Not recorded

What is the flatback sea turtle?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The Australian flatback sea turtle (Natator depressus) is a species of sea turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is endemic to the sandy beaches and shallow coastal waters of the Australian continental shelf. This turtle gets its common name from the fact that its shell has a flattened, lower dome than the other sea turtles. It can be olive green to grey with a cream underside. It averages from 76 to 96 cm (30 to 38 in) in carapace length and can weigh from 70 to 90 kg (150 to 200 lb). The hatchlings are larger than other sea turtle hatchlings when they hatch and emerge from their nests.

The flatback turtle is listed by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as data deficient, meaning there is insufficient scientific information to determine its conservation status at this time. It was previously listed as vulnerable in 1994. It is not as threatened as other sea turtles due to its small dispersal range. This animal can be 31 to 37 inches long and about 100 kg in weight.

From the Wikipedia article “Flatback sea turtle” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flatback_sea_turtle&oldid=1354642579), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the flatback sea turtle endangered?

The flatback sea turtle is listed as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List: it has too little data for its risk to be assessed.

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Data Deficient species.

How is the flatback sea turtle classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classReptilia
  4. orderTestudines
  5. familyCheloniidae
  6. genusNatator
  7. SpeciesNatator depressus (Garman, 1880)

Synonyms Chelonia depressa, Chelonia mydas, Natator tessellatus

Other names and names in other languages (32)
  • FlatbackEnglish
  • FlatbackEnglish
  • Flatback turtleEnglish
  • Flatback turtleEnglish
  • سلحفاة بحرية مسطحة الظهرArabic
  • Tortuga plana australianaCatalan
  • kareta plocháCzech
  • WallriffschildkröteGerman
  • Australische SuppenschildkröteGerman
  • Flache MeeresschildkröteGerman
  • Tortuga Franca OrientalSpanish
  • Tortuga planaSpanish
  • tasaselkämerikilpikonnaFinnish
  • ChelonFrench
  • Chelonée à dos platFrench
  • Tortue à Dos PlatFrench
  • Tortue marine à dos platFrench
  • צב ים שטוח-גבHebrew
  • ausztrál levesteknősHungarian
  • Penyu PipihIndonesian
  • tartaruga a dorso piattoItalian
  • ヒラタウミガメJapanese
  • 납작등바다거북Korean
  • Australsk SuppeskilpaddeNorwegian Bokmål
  • PlatrugzeeschildpadDutch
  • Żółw natatorPolish
  • żółw australijskiPolish
  • tartaruga-marinha-australianaPortuguese
  • Австралийская зелёная черепахаRussian
  • เต่าหลังแบนThai
  • Yassı sırtlı deniz kaplumbağasıTurkish
  • 平背龜Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistITISITISWikidataWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the flatback sea turtle

Other species in the same family Cheloniidae.

CompareFlatback sea turtle vs Green sea turtleFlatback sea turtle vs Loggerhead sea turtleFlatback sea turtle vs Hawksbill sea turtleFlatback sea turtle vs Olive ridley sea turtle

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What kind of animal is the flatback sea turtle?

The flatback sea turtle is a reptile in the turtles and tortoises group. It belongs to the family Cheloniidae and the superfamily Chelonioidea.

How heavy is a flatback sea turtle?

Adults have a representative body mass of 74.4 kg, which places the species in the large size class.

Is the flatback sea turtle endangered?

The IUCN Red List global assessment lists the flatback sea turtle as Data Deficient (DD).

How many eggs does a flatback sea turtle lay?

A clutch holds 52.8 eggs as a representative value, and females lay 2.42 clutches per year.

How long do Flatback sea turtle eggs take to hatch?

The egg incubation period is 50.1 days.

What is the scientific name of the flatback sea turtle and who named it?

Its scientific name is Natator depressus, with the authority written as (Garman, 1880).

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Flatback sea turtle (Natator depressus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/flatback-sea-turtle

MLA

“Flatback sea turtle (Natator depressus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/flatback-sea-turtle.

BibTeX
@misc{flatback_sea_turtle_2026,
  title = {Flatback sea turtle (Natator depressus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/flatback-sea-turtle},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}