A leatherback tuttle’s guide to jellyfish in the North East Atlantic

Abstract

Leatherback Dermochelys coriacea (Vandelli, 1761) sea turtles, are known to roam across entire oceans in search of high densities of their jellyfish food. Although this predator-prey relationship is well established, considerations of leatherback foraging behaviours are often hampered by a lack of information on the prey available to them in different regions. Therefore, to provide an overview for future studies we synthesise our current knowledge of jellyfish distributions and seasonality throughout the Northeast Atlantic and highlight known hotspots for the turtles themselves.