Carapace is strongly elevated or vaulted in adults. Dorsally, carapace is subcardiform and slightly emarginate over the neck and fore flippers. Indentations are present in the last third of the carapace between each marginal scute in subadults and young turtles. Head is small and blunt. Plastron is Less thick than the carapace scutes. Single visible claw on the outer border of each flipper. Adults are dark in dorsal view with a slate grey to black carapace. The upper surfaces of the head and flippers are plain dark. The plastron varies from whitish grey to bluish or olive-grey. Some adult turtles have a lustreless greenish color due to a coat of microscopic green algae on the carapace. Hatchlings have a very dark brown or black carapace and flippers dorsally, with a narrow white border.