After the eggs have incubated in the sand for 45-65 days (depending on the species and the sand temperature), sea turtle embryos will be fully developed. At this point, hatchlings “pip,” using a temporary egg tooth on their beak to break through their eggshell. Over multiple days, they will slowly dig their way to the surface, with all (or almost all) of the hatchlings from a nest emerging at the same time.Hatchlings generally wait until night to emerge from the sand and head for the ocean, so that they can use the cover of darkness to avoid detection by some predators, like birds. Scientists believe that the nighttime drop in temperature is a cue for the hatchlings to leave the nest and head to the ocean.At this point, hatchlings enter into a multi-day “frenzy state" during which they swim almost continuously, fueled only by leftover egg yolk, to reach deeper water away from shore. They are very vulnerable to predation at this stage of life.Little sea turtles are transported by strong ocean currents to open-ocean (oceanic) habitats, where they live in flotsam, such as Sargassum mats (brown algae), and have an omnivorous diet. This oceanic stage can last from a few years to decades. are the only species that spend the majority of their life in this oceanic environment; are the only species that lack this open ocean stage entirely.D. Juvenile sea turtles migrate TO NERITIC FEEDING AREASAfter this oceanic period, juvenile sea turtles move into highly productive neritic (near shore) feeding areas to finish growing, a process that can take as little as a few years and as long as a few decades!These foraging (feeding) grounds tend to offer a greater abundance and variety of food than the open ocean, but they also tend to host more predators. That is why young turtles wait to enter these areas until they have reached a larger body size, helping them to avoid being eaten.Adult turtles also occupy neritic feeding areas. Adult turtles remain in these areas until they have accumulated sufficient energy reserves to migrate to breeding areas for reproduction. This period typically takes more than a year, and in many cases, several years.E. Adult sea turtles migrate to natal beaches to mateAfter acquiring sufficient fat stores, adult male and female sea turtles migrate to breeding areas to mate and, in the case of females, to nest.The distance between feeding and breeding areas can be hundreds, to tens of thousands, of kilometers.Each nesting season, most female sea turtles return to nest at the same beach, or group of beaches, from which they were born. The return migration by an adult turtle to the beach of its birth is called natal homing.F. Sea turtles MATe IN COASTAL AREAS NEAR NESTING BEACHES, Learn about the life cycle of sea turtles, including nesting, hatching, juveniles, adults, and migration., Even with all the research and tracking, a sea turtle’s life is still partly a mystery. We know the main stages—mating, nesting, hatching, growing up—but the in-between bits are harder to observe..