 "D. coriacea" exhibits several anatomical characteristics believed to be associated with a life in cold waters, including an extensive covering of brown adipose tissue, temperature-independent swimming muscles, countercurrent heat exchangers between the large front flippers and the core body, and an extensive network of countercurrent heat exchangers surrounding the trachea.Leatherbacks have been viewed as unique among extant reptiles for their ability to maintain high body temperatures using metabolically generated heat, or endothermy.Initial studies on their metabolic rates found leatherbacks had resting metabolisms around three times higher than expected for reptiles of their size.