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Alabama map turtle

Graptemys pulchra · Turtles · Reptiles

Alabama map turtle (Graptemys pulchra): Females 273-292 mm carapace and up to about 1.9 kg; males 113-127 mm. Relatively low-domed shell with a black median keel and pale yellow outline; concentric yellow semicircles on each marginal scute. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Alabama map turtle — verified North Ground species photograph
Adobe Stock · Standard License (asset 1647922164)
Scientific name
Graptemys pulchra
Family
Emydidae
In North America
Native
Range
Mobile Bay drainage: eastern Mississippi, throughout Alabama and northwestern Georgia. Not in Canada.
Biology

How to identify it

Females 273-292 mm carapace and up to about 1.9 kg; males 113-127 mm. [1][2]

Relatively low-domed shell with a black median keel and pale yellow outline; concentric yellow semicircles on each marginal scute. [1][2]

Head with a large light interorbital blotch connected to postorbital blotches; no nasal trident. [1][2]

Females have larger heads, broader jaws and elongated front claws; males longer, thicker tails. [1][2]

Compared with the pascagoula map turtle: Higher-domed shell with spines on the keel; nasal trident usually present. [1][2]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a alabama map turtle before you act. Compared with the pascagoula map turtle: Higher-domed shell with spines on the keel; nasal trident usually present.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Medium-sized rivers to large creeks with sand bars, sandy banks, logs, deep pools and abundant mollusks; nests in sand bars and banks. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Diurnal and active roughly March-November; bask on logs with limbs and neck stretched out. [1][2]

Turtles feed or bask on logs May-October; daily torpor begins below about 19 C before hibernation. [1][2]

Mainly molluscivorous; males and juveniles eat smaller bivalves and aquatic insects. [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Mobile Bay drainage: eastern Mississippi, throughout Alabama and northwestern Georgia. Not in Canada.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology · reviewed 2026-09-30

    University of Michigan Museum of Zoology