Marine iguana
Marine Iguana ( Amblyrhynchus cristatus)
The marine iguana ( Amblyrhynchus cristatus ) is an endemic to the Galapagos Islands Leguanart. She lives on all the islands, usually on rocky coasts, but also in mangroves. As the only living lizard lives today the marine iguana of food they studied in the sea.
Appearance
The base color of iguanas is black. The reason for the dark tones is that the animals have to heat up quickly after their dives in the sea in order to search again in the sea food can. They eat almost exclusively marine seaweeds and other algae. The ingested excess salt they excrete by chloride cells in glands in the nostrils. Young animals have a bright colored stripes on the back, and some adult animals are gray. The coloration of the males varies with the seasons. During the breeding season they are on the southern islands most colorful and are red and green. In Santa Cruz they are brick red and black and green brick red and dull on Fernandina.
The various populations also differ by their size. On Fernandina and Isabela, the largest iguanas that inhabit the smallest living Genovesa Island. Adult males are up to 1.3 meters long, while females are 60 centimeters only half as long.
Way of life
As cold-blooded animals, the marine iguana can spend only a limited time foraging in the cold sea. They dive up to half an hour in shallow water to a depth of 15 meters and graze algae. After that, they have to warm up in the sun again.
During the breeding season in December and January, the males are very territorial. They are areas in which they gather as many females and defend against other males.
The marine iguanas and living in the interior of the Galapagos Islands Druze head to be descended from a common ancestor, which was drifted on tree trunks from South America to the islands.
Endangering
Young iguanas are eaten by feral cats and dogs. Dogs can also prey on adult animals that are restricted just after a dive in their reflections. The El Niño phenomenon caused periodic decreases in the population. The total number of animals is unknown, but is, according to IUCN, at least 50,000, and according to estimates by the Charles Darwin Research Station include hundreds of thousands of copies.
Marine iguanas are fully protected by laws of Ecuador and are listed in the CITES Convention in Annex II.