Hawksbill sea turtle are taken by humans, though it is illegal to hunt them in many countries. In some parts of the world, hawksbill sea turtles are eaten as a delicacy. As far back as the fifth century BC, sea turtles, including the hawksbill, were eaten as delicacies in China. Many cultures also use turtles' shells for decoration. These turtles have been harvested for their beautiful shell since Egyptian times, and the material known as tortoiseshell is normally from the hawksbill. In China, where it was known as "tai mei", the hawksbill is called the "tortoise-shell turtle", named primarily for its shell, which
Hawksbill sea turtle the Atlantic. Fitzinger derived the genus' name, "Eretmochelys", from the Greek roots "eretmo" and "chelys", corresponding to "oar" and "turtle", respectively. The name refers to the turtles' oar-like front flippers. The species' name "imbricata" is Latin, corresponding to the English term imbricate. This appropriately describes the turtles' overlapping posterior scutes. The Pacific hawksbill's subspecies name, "bissa", is Latin for "double". The subspecies was originally described as "Caretta bissa"; the term referred to the then-species being the second species in the genus. "Caretta" is the genus of the hawksbill's much larger relative, the loggerhead turtle. Throughout the world, hawksbill sea turtles