Intensive grazing by green turtles depletes seagrass meadows and constrains turtle growth in Kume Island, Japan

, among the highest reported. Body condition indices from 342 captured turtles revealed temporal fluctuations, with severe emaciation in autumn 2023 and spring 2025. The mean growth rate in straight carapace length was only 0.31 ± 1.57 cm/year, substantially lower than other foraging populations. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that intensive grazing by green turtles has fundamentally altered the structure of seagrass habitats, with direct negative feedbacks on turtle nutritional status and growth performance.