Spotted turtles are aquatic omnivores that inhabit a variety of semi-aquatic or in other words, shallow, fresh-water areas such as flooded forests, marshes, wet meadows, bogs and woodland streams in southern Canada (Ontario) and the eastern US: the eastern Great Lakes and east of the Appalachian Mountains.

[5] The spotted turtle is the only species in the genus Clemmys, which was first named in 1828 by Ferdinand August Maria Franz von Ritgen.

[3][6] Johann Gottlob Schneider originally described the species as Testudo guttatai in 1792; however, he is now the authority for the current binomial name, Clemmys guttata.

[9] Its upper shell (carapace) is smooth, does not have a central ridge running down the middle (called a "keel"),[10] and grows to 3.5–12.5 cm (1.4–4.9 in) in length.

[14] The spotted turtle ranges from southern Maine, Quebec, and Ontario, south along the eastern US to Florida in the east and central Indiana and Ohio in the west.

[16] The spotted turtle occupies a variety of habitats including swamps, bogs, fens, marshes, woodland streams, and wet pastures.

Also, brackish streams that are influenced by tides can also serve as a home to this turtle[17] in addition to ditches, vernal pools, and sedge meadows.

[15] The spotted turtle can be decidedly terrestrial, spending a good amount of time on land[17] and sometimes basking on patches of grass near its body of water.

Sexual maturity is not reached until age 8,[19][page needed] upon which researchers found that courtship and nesting periods typically ranged from March until June.

All told it is estimated that anywhere from 1000 to 2000 spotted turtles live in Canada however, with individual populations ceasing to exist, this number is declining.

[21] During the freezing temperatures of winter and the extreme heat of summer, spotted turtles become inactive during environmentally unfavorable conditions.

In the warmest part of the summer (when water temperatures exceed 30 °C), they may aestivate terrestrially or aquatically for long periods of time.

No matter the explanation for dormancy, the "winter" dormant period may commence in late summer or fall, but in almost every instance after a return to aquatic habitats.

[22][23] Note that due to their size, these small turtles are highly vulnerable to predation, particularly during their frequent terrestrial wanderings.

[22] The spotted turtle is an active hunter: seeking out prey items in the water by pointing its head into aquatic plants.

It is omnivorous and eats exclusively in the water,[24] consuming plant material including aquatic vegetation, green algae, and in at least one instance, wild cranberries.

Animal food includes aquatic insect larvae,[25] worms, slugs, millipedes, spiders,[26] crustaceans, tadpoles, salamanders, and several genera of small fish.

Spotted turtles shed their scutes in small pieces occasionally resulting in completely smooth shelled specimens.

One study focused specifically on the Southeastern population, and recorded that females had greater shell heights, heavier body masses, and longer plastrons than males.

[27] In another study, where radio-telemetry was used, spotted turtle behavior was observed in northeastern America, where distinct seasonal movement patterns revealed that spotted turtles exhibited a positive association in wetlands hosting abundant wood frog egg masses in spring and from spring to late summer, a negative association in forested wetlands was detected.

[5] Recovery action is necessary to prevent decline of spotted turtles since this species has been determined to have a high risk of extinction in several areas ranging from South Carolina up to Maine in the US and even further north into Ontario, Canada, mitigation requires spatial and temporal shifts in habitat use.

Habitat destruction, alteration, and conversion, collection for the pet trade, and other human impacts such as vehicle mortality (cars and mowers) are leading to declines in populations.