In our film A Plastic Ocean, turtles are shown to have eaten plastic bags, perhaps mistaking them for jellyfish prey. In fact, 52% of all individual sea turtles are predicted to have eaten plastic.
This is particularly concerning for the Leatherback Turtle (Vulnerable, IUCN Red List), which feeds almost exclusively on jellyfish.
Leatherback turtles are visual predators that often hunt in murky waters. Under such conditions, it is easy to mistake a plastic bag for a jellyfish.