Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the sea turtles are fed at 1:15 pm.

The soups are not fit for consumption

The German name of the green turtle is "Suppenschildkröte" (soup turtle). So, when the Aquarium employees at the MEERESMUSEUM talk about "Suppen" (soups), they are not talking about their next lunch break, but about two sea turtles. Their German name gives an idea of why most green turtles had to die in earlier days. They ended up not only as a soup, served at the dining table, but were processed for commercial use in dog and cat food. For this reason and because of hunting for their eggs, Green turtles were already threatened with extinction towards the end of the 19th century. Today, they are protected by the Washington Convention.

In contrast to many of their ancestors, the female specimens in the Turtle Aquarium at the MEERESMUSEUM seem to have a long life ahead of them. The now 26-year-old animal was a gift – still as a baby turtle – by the Cuban Fisheries Ministry to the MEERESMUSEUM in 1986. Her two years older "colleague" has been living in the Museum since 2003 and tips the scales at more than 120 kilogrammes. Her exact weight could no longer be determined, because the scale was not designed to hold any more.

In nature, Green turtles eat mainly plants, such as, for example, sea grass. Thus, their meat and fat tissues turn greenish. That is why this species is called a "Green turtle" in English. In the MEERESMUSEUM the turtles eat salad, but mainly feed on squid and freshwater fish such as roach and bream. Since they have accustomed to people since their hatching, the animals are very tame and are happy to be stroked. When divers go into their tank, the turtles really press up to he museum staff, so that they can be stroked a little on the neck.