Leatherback eating brown sea nettle, July 2012

A leatherback turtle in the Monterey Bay, California eating a brown sea nettle, Chrysaora fuscescens.

Chrysaora fuscescens is commonly found along the coasts of California and Oregon. The populations reach their peak during the late summer.

Leatherbacks are seasonal visitors to the west coast of North America, including the central California coast, traveling across the Pacific and arriving in late summer and fall to forage on large aggregations of brown sea nettles.

In the ocean leatherbacks can mistake plastic bags as food.