Most turtles spend a lot of time underwater, the same place where fishes live. Actually, in every lake or river where you can find a turtle, you will also find a fish, so it’s understandable why some people might think that they are related, but that’s not the case.
Are turtles fish? No, turtles are not fish. Turtles are reptiles, which is a completely different class of animals than fishes.
Turtles have a few things in common with fishes, they both live in the same habitats, they both lay eggs, they both eat some of the same food, so it’s easy to think that they are somehow related. But in reality, turtles are reptiles and are not at all related to fish. So in the rest of the article, I am going to tell you what are the exact traits that make turtles reptiles, and not fish.
What Makes a Turtle a Reptile
If you have a turtle near you can easily observe that they have feet, this is one of the biggest reasons why turtles can’t be considered fish. While some people might say that those feet are some kind of evolved fins, the fact that the feet have claws disproves that. Some of the claws 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 fish.
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 fish eggs.
Another thing that I said that is different between the fish and reptile eggs is that reptile eggs can’t be left in water, while fish 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 be drawn. 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 fish 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 lot of 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
And of course, there are 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. The biggest difference between fish and turtle sales is that fish scales are usually very brightly colored, and the color of the scales can be easily removed if you touch them. On the other hand, turtle scales are not as brightly colored, and the color is not so easily removable.
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 fish 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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