The Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle, Lepidochelys kempi, is one of the most endangered sea turtles. It is also one of the smallest. The adults generally weigh 100 pounds or less, with a straight carapace length of approximately 2 feet. Adults are gray-olive above (carapace) and cream or yellow below (plastron). Hatchlings are gray-black above and below.
They are named after a Key West resident, Richard Kemp, who sent two Ridley specimens to Harvard for identification about 90 years ago.
Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles are found in the Gulf of Mexico and along the eastern coast of the United States as far north as Nova Scotia, and eastward to Bermuda, the Azores and Europe.