Common Snapping Turtle
Chelydra serpentina
Common Snapping Turtle · Constitution Marsh · 17 October 2026
A Common Snapping Turtle in the shallows at Constitution Marsh, its shell so plastered with mud it barely shows against the bottom. Snappers live in almost any fresh or brackish water from southern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and spend much of their lives lying in soft mud like this, waiting for a fish to come within reach.
The shell is too small for the animal. The plate underneath covers so little of the body that a snapper cannot draw itself in and hide the way other turtles do, which is why one met on land defends itself by striking. In the water, where it feels safe, it is shy and usually just swims away.
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