noun, Cell Biology. 1. a network of tubular membranes within the cytoplasm of the cell, occurring either with a smooth surface (smooth endoplasmic reticulum) or studded with ribosomes (rough endoplasmic reticulum) involved in the transport of materials.
The most widely distributed of all sea turtles; found in the Gulf of Alaska and south of the Bering Sea in the northeastern Pacific to Chile in the southeastern Pacific. In the Barents Sea, Newfoundland and Labrador in the North Atlantic; around Argentina and South Africa in the South Atlantic.
Recent estimates of numbers show that this species is declining, particularly in the Pacific where as few as 2,300 adult females now remain, making the Pacific leatherback the world's most endangered marine turtle population.