Common Snapping Turtle
Chelydra serpentina · Reptiles & amphibians
Common Snapping Turtle, close
Constitution Marsh, 17 October 2026
A Common Snapping Turtle's head just above the surface at Constitution Marsh, close enough to see the green algae growing on its skin. In October snappers are feeding up before the winter, which they spend buried in the mud at the bottom of the marsh.
They can go the whole winter without coming up to breathe. In cold water a snapper's heart slows almost to a stop, and it takes what little oxygen it needs straight from the water, through the lining of its mouth and throat.
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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