The species L. kempii primarily occupies habitat around the Gulf of Mexico, though its migrations into the Atlantic Ocean are being affected by rising temperatures.

[7] Human activity, including but not limited to habitat destruction, climate change, and oil spills, threaten populations.

[11][12] Kemp's ridley is the smallest of all sea turtle species, reaching maturity at 58–70 cm (23–28 in) carapace length and weighing only 36–45 kg (79–99 lb).

[15] Unlike other sea turtles, the surface on the squamosal bone where the jaw opening muscles originate, faces to the side rather than to the back.

Adults primarily live in the Gulf of Mexico, where they forage in the relatively shallow waters of the continental shelf (up to 409 m deep, but typically 50 m or less),[5] with females ranging from the southern coast of the Florida Peninsula to the northern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, while males have a tendency to remain closer to the nesting beaches in the Western Gulf waters of Texas (USA), Tamaulipas, and Veracruz (Mexico).

[18][21][19][20] Juveniles and subadults, in contrast, regularly migrate into the Atlantic Ocean and occupy the coastal waters of the continental shelf of North America from southern Florida to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and occasionally northward.

[6] Accidental and vagrant records are known with some regularity from throughout the northern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, where the Gulf Stream is believed to play a significant role in their dispersal.

Confirmed records from Newfoundland to Venezuela in the west; to Ireland, the Netherlands, Malta in the Mediterranean, and numerous localities in between are known in the east, although more than 95% of these involve juveniles or subadults.

[22] Kemp's ridley turtle feeds on mollusks, crustaceans (such as floating crabs and shrimp), jellyfish, fish, algae or seaweed, and sea urchins.

[27] Regional diet compositions aid in conservation efforts through enabling predicting food sources becoming affected by major events.

[7] Egg harvesting and poaching first depleted the numbers of Kemp's ridley sea turtles,[21] but today, major threats include habitat loss, pollution, and entanglement in shrimping nets.

[7] Efforts to protect L. kempii began in 1966, when Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Biologico-Pesqueras (National Institute of Biological-Fisheries Research) sent biologists Hunberto Chávez, Martin Contreras, and Eduardo Hernondez to the coast of southern Tamaulipas, to survey and instigate conservation plans.

[44] These cold-stunning events may become more common with rising sea temperatures, as juveniles linger in near-shore waters in the American Northeast and are subjected to late-season storms.

[citation needed] Since April 30, 2010, 10 days after the accident on the Deepwater Horizon, 156 sea turtle deaths were recorded; most were Kemp's ridleys.

[citation needed] Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologists and enforcement agents rescued Kemp's ridleys in Grand Isle.

[45][citation needed] Most of the 456 oiled turtles that were rescued, cleaned, and released by the US Fish and Wildlife Service were Kemp's ridleys.

[8] Of the endangered marine species frequenting Gulf waters, only Kemp's ridley relies on the region as its sole breeding ground.

[47] The overall plan was to collect eggs from about 700 sea turtle nests, incubate them, and release the young on beaches across Alabama and Florida over a period of months.