the.com/leatherback turtle

A dinosaur-era reptile that chases jellyfish across oceans wearing rubber armor instead of a shell.

means The largest sea turtle alive, with a flexible, leathery carapace instead of hard bony plates, built for diving deep and swimming vast open-ocean distances in search of jellyfish.

from Named simply for its shell: unlike other sea turtles, it lacks a hard keratin-and-bone carapace, instead carrying a layer of oil-rich connective tissue and thin bony plates beneath skin-like, rubbery hide — hence 'leatherback.' The scientific name, Dermochelys coriacea, reinforces this plainly: Greek derma (skin) plus chelys (turtle), and Latin coriacea, 'leathery' or 'of leather.' No myth needed here — the name is an old, honest observation of the animal's most unusual feature.

no hard shell
Carapace is cartilage and oily skin, not bone
size record
Largest sea turtle, up to 2,000 pounds
dive depth
Can dive deeper than most whales, 4,000 feet
ancient lineage
Last of a turtle family 100 million years old
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