Spiny softshell turtle
Apalone spinifera (Lesueur, 1827)
Status not recordedturtles and tortoises
The spiny softshell turtle (Apalone spinifera) is a species in the family Trionychidae, order Testudines. Recorded adults weigh about 4.77 kg and live up to 25.2 years.
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Quick facts about the spiny softshell turtle
- Weight
- 4.77 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- up to 5.4 cmsrc for Length
- Lifespan
- 25.2 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 50 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Egg incubation
- 60 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 9 – 38src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 8.99 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1.5src for Litters or clutches a year
- Reproduction
- Eggssrc for Reproduction
- Active
- By day (diurnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the spiny softshell turtle live?
Not recorded
Where has it been introduced?
Also listed for parts of: United States (Hawaii).
Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).
Is the spiny softshell turtle endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the spiny softshell turtle classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderTestudines
- familyTrionychidae
- genusApalone
- SpeciesApalone spinifera (Lesueur, 1827)
Synonyms Amyda ferox hartwegi, Amyda ferox spinifera, Amyda spinifera, Amyda spinifera hartwegi, Apalone hudsonica, Apalone spinifera hartwegi, Aspidonectes asper, Aspidonectes californiana, Aspidonectes emoryi, Aspidonectes emyda, Aspidonectes georgii, Aspidonectes nuchalis, Gymnopus olivaceus, Platypeltis agassizii, Trionyx annulifer, Trionyx ater, Trionyx ferox hartwegi, Trionyx ferox spinifera, Trionyx ocellatus, Trionyx ocellatus, Trionyx spinifer guadalupensis, Trionyx spinifer pallidus, Trionyx spiniferus, Trionyx spiniferus, Tyrse argus
Other names and names in other languages (31)
- Black spiny softshell turtleEnglish
- Cuatro Cienegas softshellEnglish
- Guadalupe spiny softshell turtleEnglish
- Gulf coast spiny softshell turtleEnglish
- Northern spiny softshell turtleEnglish
- Pallid spiny softshell turtleEnglish
- Texas spiny softshell turtleEnglish
- سلحفاة لينة الدرقة الشائكةArabic
- kožnatka trnitáCzech
- Tornet BlødskildpaddeDanish
- Dornrand-WeichschildkröteGerman
- Tortuga de Concha BlandaSpanish
- Tortuga casco suave espinosaSpanish
- Tortuga de caparazón blando espinosaSpanish
- Tortuga-casco suave espinosaSpanish
- Tortue épineuseFrench
- Tortue molle à épinesFrench
- tortue-molle à épinesFrench
- Trionyx épineux (Le)French
- tüskés lágyhéjúteknősHungarian
- トゲスッポンJapanese
- Tartaruga-de-casco-mole-espinhosaPortuguese
- Колючий триониксRussian
- Spiny Softshellroot
- Eastern Spiny Softshellroot
- Guadalupe Spiny Softshellroot
- Gulf Coast Spiny Softshellroot
- Pallid Spiny Softshellroot
- Texas Spiny Softshellroot
- Western Spiny Softshellroot
- 刺鱉Chinese
Relatives of the spiny softshell turtle
Other species in the same genus Apalone.
CompareSpiny softshell turtle vs Florida softshellSpiny softshell turtle vs Smooth softshellSpiny softshell turtle vs Apalone amorense
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the spiny softshell turtle?
An adult spiny softshell turtle weighs 4.77 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
How long does the spiny softshell turtle live?
The spiny softshell turtle has a recorded lifespan of 25.2 years.
What kind of animal is the spiny softshell turtle?
The spiny softshell turtle (Apalone spinifera) belongs to the family Trionychidae in the order Testudines.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-13. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS) · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-11-13
Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group. - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Spiny softshell turtle (Apalone spinifera). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/spiny-softshell-turtle
“Spiny softshell turtle (Apalone spinifera).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/spiny-softshell-turtle.
@misc{spiny_softshell_turtle_2026,
title = {Spiny softshell turtle (Apalone spinifera)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/spiny-softshell-turtle},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-13}
}