Colombia - Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary

"Located some 506 km off the coast of Colombia, the site includes Malpelo island (350 ha) and the surrounding marine environment (857,150 ha). This vast marine park, the largest no-fishing zone in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, provides a critical habitat for internationally threatened marine species, and is a major source of nutrients resulting in large aggregations of marine biodiversity. It is in particular a ‘reservoir' for sharks, giant grouper and billfish and is one of the few places in the world where sightings of the short-nosed ragged-toothed shark, a deepwater shark, have been confirmed. Widely recognized as one of the top diving sites in the world, due to the presence of steep walls and caves of outstanding natural beauty, these deep waters support important populations of large predators and pelagic species (e.g. aggregations of over 200 hammerhead sharks and over 1,000 silky sharks, whale sharks and tuna have been recorded) in an undisturbed environment where they maintain natural behavioural patterns." 

Source: UNESCO World Heritage

Malpelo Island, Colombia. Thanks to Werner of Austria.

1 comment:

  1. This place it's amazing!! The island has become today a major tourist places because of its foreign place and a number of rare species which inhabit the place like seabirds, endemic species of lizards and land crabs and various other creatures. I love it!

    J. - colombia travel

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