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| Description: |
Adult females 7"-18"; males 5"-7.25". A very flat turtle with a rounded, leathery-skinned, flexible, shell which is keelless and unhinged. The snout is long with open nostrils on the end. The limbs are flat with broadly-webbed feet. Color is olive, brown or grayish, sometimes with dark markings which fade with age. The head and limbs are olive to gray with dark markings. Two dark-bordered light stripes mark each side of the head, extending from the back of the eye and from the back of the angle of the jaw. The shell has a yellowish border with a dark line around it. The carapace is rimmed with pale coloring which is four to five times wider on the rear than on the front and sides. There are pale conical spiny projections (tubercles) along the rear third of the shell. The plastron is yellowish and unmarked. Males are smaller than females with a thick tail that extends beyond the carapace, and their pattern is more contrasted than that of females. The shell has a sandpaper-like texture. Females become more blotched and mottled as they get older and have a smoother shell with well-developed warts on the front edge. Juveniles have prominent dark markings on the head and the limbs and black spots on the shell. |
| Similar Species: |
Presence of spines, bumps or sandpapery projections on carapace and ridges on nostrils differentiate it from smooth softshells. Range separates it from the Texas Spiny Softshell |
| Habitat: |
Found in permanent, not temporary, rivers, agricultural canals, drainage ditches, artificial lakes and ponds. Prefers still water with a muddy, sandy, or gravelly bottom, and aquatic vegetation. |
| Behavior: |
Powerful swimmers and can run on land with startling speed and agility. They may bask ashore, but only where they have a split second retreat into the water. Frequently lie buried in sand or mud in shallow water with only the eyes and snout exposed where, when the long neck is extended it can take a breath. |
| Hibernation: |
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| Reproduction: |
From May to August, females crawl onto land to lay 1 or 2 clutches of 3 - 39 eggs on exposed, sunny, sandy banks. Hatchlings emerge from August to October. |
| Diet: |
Predominately carniverous. Eat insects, crayfish, worms, snails, fish, frogs, tadpoles, and reptiles. Both actively hunts its prey and sits still to ambush passing prey. May also scavenge its food. |
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