Hawksbill Turtle

The hawksbill is a sea turtle and the only living species in its genus, with a distribution largely limited to tropical and subtropical marine and estuary ecosystems. It has the flattened body, protective carapace and flipper-like limbs of other sea turtles, but is easily told by its sharp, curving beak and the saw-like edges of its shell. The shell colour shifts slightly with water temperature. It spends part of its life in the open ocean but more time in shallow lagoons and coral reefs (Wikipedia, general species account).

Hawksbill shell was the main source of the tortoiseshell used for decoration, and international trade in the species and its products is regulated under CITES (Wikipedia, general species account).