My turtles seem to spend most of their time underwater, and from what I knew this is something only amphibians do, but I always knew that turtles are reptiles. So I did some research to find out if turtles are amphibians or reptiles, and this is what I found out.
Are turtles amphibians or reptiles? Turtles are reptiles, even if most of them live in habitats that also host a lot of amphibians, turtles have all the traits of a reptile and as a result, they are classified as a reptile and not as an amphibian.
Since most turtles spend a lot of their time submerged underwater, it’s easy to think that they are amphibians. After all at first sight it’s really easy to mix up an amphibian with a reptile if you don’t know what the difference is. So in the rest of the article, I am going to tell you what are the exact traits that make turtles reptiles, and not amphibians, and the general differences between reptiles and amphibians.
The Differences Between Amphibians and Reptiles
One of the biggest differences, and one that is really easy to spot, is represented by their skin. Reptiles are covered with scales while amphibians don’t have any scales. If you have the chance to interact with some friendly reptiles and amphibians you can touch them and feel the difference for yourself. When you touch the reptile you will fill the rough, sometimes pointy scales, and when you will touch an amphibian you will feel a smooth surface. Some reptiles will have smaller and more subtle scales so it can be a little hard to notice at first sight, but no amphibian has any kind of scales, so this will make it easier for you to find out if an animal is a reptile or an amphibian just by looking.
Another way to tell the difference is by looking at their toes. Reptiles tend to have little claws, amphibians on the other hand don’t have any claws, they might have fingers, but no claws.
Another big difference between amphibians and reptiles is represented by their eggs. In general, reptiles lay hard shelled eggs, sometimes the shell can be softer and kind of leathery, but in general the eggs will have a hard shell, those eggs have to stay on land, and not in water, if they stay in water the babies inside them will drown. Amphibians will lay jelly eggs that will have to stay in water, if the eggs spend too much time out of water they will dry up and nothing will come out them, since those eggs are jelly-like in appearance you can usually see how the baby is developing inside of them.
Another difference between reptiles and amphibians is represented by the way they breathe. During larval stages, most amphibians will breathe through gills, when they get older most of them will breathe through the lungs and through their skin. To be able to breathe through their skin, an amphibian has to keep its skin moist, otherwise, the skin will dry and won’t be able to absorb oxygen. Oxygen absorbed through their skin will enter blood vessels right at the skin surface that will circulate the oxygen to the rest of the body, sometimes more than a quarter of the oxygen they use is absorbed directly through their skin. There are a few amphibians out there that don’t have lungs and only breathe through their skin. ON the other hand, reptiles breathe using their lungs.
Those are some of the most important differences between amphibians and reptiles, now let’s see why turtles are reptiles and not amphibians.
What Makes a Turtle a Reptile
Let’s start with the scales, at first glance it might seem that turtles don’t have any scales, but in reality, its shell is made out of huge scales. There are some turtle species out there that also have scales on their legs, but most of them don’t have any except the huge ones that cover almost their entire body, the shell.
If you have a turtle near you can easily observe that they have claws on their feet, some of them might be smaller but they are still there. Tortoises on the other hand have some different types of claws, a lot of them don’t actually look like claws but more like sharp spikes or fingers. This is because tortoises don’t spend time in water and their feet have evolved in a way that is more favorable to walking on land than swimming in water. Biologically speaking they are made out of the same thing as the claws of the aquatic turtles are so there is no big difference about this. And since most tortoises don’t spend too much time in the water, there is no question if they are reptiles or amphibians.
Note: if you want to know more about the differences between turtles and tortoises check out this article: What is the Difference Between Turtles, Tortoises, and Terrapins?
In general, most turtle species will lay hard-shelled eggs, there are a few species, like some sea turtles that will lay eggs that have a shell that is a little softer and a little more elastic, when the turtles lay their eggs on the beach they will dig a hole and then they will stand on top of it and drop the eggs. If the eggs were harder they would have broken when they hit the ground, this is the reason why those eggs have evolved to be a little softer. But they are still hard-shelled eggs, especially when compared to amphibian eggs.
Another thing that I said that is different between the amphibian and reptile eggs is that reptile eggs can’t be left in water, while amphibian eggs can’t leave the water. Turtle eggs make no exception to this, if they stay in the water the embryo inside the egg will drown. Sea turtles that spend most of their lives in the water, will only leave the water to lay their eggs. After the turtles get out of the eggs they go straight into the water, but the eggs should never be left in water.
The reason why most people think turtles are amphibians is that they spend so much time in the water, this has led some people to believe that they have gills that allow them to breathe underwater, but no turtles don’t have any gills. The reason why turtles are able to spend so much time underwater is that they are able to hold their breath for long periods of time.
There are a few turtle species that have a way to get oxygen while they are underwater, and that is through a gill-like structure in the cloaca that allows them to get small quantities of oxygen when they are underwater. The cloaca is the posterior orifice that serves as the only opening for the digestive, reproductive and urinary tract. But this is not something that allows them to stay underwater forever, but it can offer them a few more minutes of oxygen in some cases.
If a turtle is trapped underwater for too much time it can draw, it doesn’t matter if they have a cloaca, or if they are able to breathe for hours underwater, at some point, every turtle has to get out of the water and get some oxygen. If you want more information on how much time can a turtle spend underwater, and other related topics check out this article: Can Turtles Drawn?
Related Questions
Are amphibians a type of reptile? No, amphibians and reptiles share a lot of visual traits, and they are both cold-blooded animals, and they also share a lot of habitats but they are two different things. Reptiles are an animal class, and amphibians are another class, none of them is a subclass of the other.
Are sea turtles amphibians or reptiles? Sea turtles are reptiles like all turtles are. Even if they spend almost all of their time underwater and far from the shore, they are still reptiles, they just prefer to stay in the water instead of land. They also need to get to the surface of the water to get air on numerous occasions.
How much time can a turtle spend underwater? Here is a list of average times a turtle can spend underwater without drowning:
- Box turtle – 1 – 2 minutes
- Desert tortoise – 1 – 2 minutes
- Snapping turtle – 20 – 30 minutes
- Red-eared slider – 20 – 30 minutes
- Map turtle – 20 – 30 minutes
- Green sea turtle – 7 – 10 hours
- Leatherback sea turtle – 7 – 10 hours
- Kemp’s ridley – 7 – 10 hours
- Olive ridley – 7 – 10 hours
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