Rocket Girl 7-14-09 feeding in the shallows.

I haven't noticed the Hawksbills eating this particular plant (I assume it is a plant) before.

I actually cut a few of these from in shallower water and brought them out to her to see if she would accept them from me or how she would respond. She mad no move to take them from my hand but when I dropped them down in front of her, in short time she went for them and ate them.

On 7/17/09 I came across Rocket Girl feeding in deeper, more typical area and she was breaking away the dead coral as usual. I decided to swim into shallower water and grab one of the sea weeds shown above and see if she would be interested in it even though she was likely searching for black sponge. She showed no interest in the offering and didn't go for it unless it was after I left. I didn't hang around too long because I had spied a sponge crab while getting her the offering and I wanted to go back and see if I could find it again.

On 7-18-90, I again came across Rocket Girl and she was in the deeper area searching through the coral. I decided to grab some of the sea weed from the shallows again and offer it to her. It was clear that whatever she was looking for in the coral, she wasn't finding. The first piece of weed I brought back dropped down into the coral near here and when I went back to the surface, she went for it and ate it all. The current caused some of it to drift off in different directions but she methodically went about gathering it.

The second piece I brought her, I held out to her and she seemed aware of it but made no move for it while it was in my hand (image above). I left it behind and as I surfaced, she again went for it. I went back to the shallows for another piece and she came in to shallower water as well and actually went for some of the weed on her own. She surfaced for air and then went back down again. I followed her down with an offering:

This time, I held still and she came forward and took it from my hand:

NOTE : I now understand that it is against the law to feed turtles and I can understand this law. Not only is it conceivable that inappropriate food could be offered up but the animals could develop behaviors as well as a dependence based on such offerings. As tempting and rewarding as it might seem, there is a good reason for such a law, I believe. In the last sequence above, Rocket Girl saw me coming down to the reef with the "weed" in hand and she actually lifted off the reef and swam over to me and the offering. I had no concern for my safety at all but she was clearly adapting to a pattern with a reward but I am not the only swimmer she will encounter nor is it appropriate for me to encourage this behavior.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: I have been informed that the "weed" that Rocket Girl has been eating here is in fact a brown algae called Turbinaria ornata.

7-26-09 Rocket Girl again:

When I came upon her, she was going for some algae sprouting from the top of some branch coral. In the pic below, she had just broke the end of the coral host to the algae off of its base (double joined arrows)

She proceeded to nibble away at the algae and at one point, used her two front flippers to pull the coral away from her mouth while she was biting down on the algae. (right after I snapped the image below)

As Rocket Girl headed up to the surface, she jettisoned some waste:

She proceeded then to feed on some of the Turbinaria ornata:

In the image above, it seems clear that she has her eyes on the algae, and confirmation in the images below.