Scorpion Reef
Arrecife Alacranes (also the singular Arrecife Alacrán is common, dt Scorpion Reef ) is an atoll in the outer shelf of the Campeche Bank, 116 km north of the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula.
Geography
Arrecife Alacranes Reef is the largest and the most clearly trained Atoll in the Gulf of Mexico. It extends from northwest to southeast over a length of 27 km, is up to 15 km wide, and has a total area of 326 km ² The lagoon is more than 36 meters deep.
The reef consists of five islands, which are located along its leeward side ( on the western edge ) have all vegetation. The highest island with 4.3m is Isla Pérez, followed by Desertora with 4 m and Desterrada with 3 m. Chica and Pájaros are lower. On the Isla Pérez, a lighthouse was built in 1900. It is not the greatest, but the only inhabited island of the reef, with four families in three residential buildings, and therefore is the main island. The population is "semi- permanent", the official population was the 2005 Census at zero. Isla Pérez is 875 meters long and 150 meters wide .. According to official figures, however, it has an area of 18.5 hectares. From the same source is the sum of five island areas a land area of 104.8 hectares, or just over one square kilometer. On the other hand is a publication of 1962, only a maximum area of half a square kilometer to. This discrepancy is at least partly be explained by an increase in the land area of the Isla Pérez and possibly other islands, although other sources also report decreasing island area.
Islands
From north to south, the following five atoll islands: f1 map with all coordinates: OSM, Google and Bing
Management
The reef is one of its islands to the municipality of Progreso in the Mexican state of Yucatán.
National park
Arrecife Alacranes is a Mexican National Park and was declared by the UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve. It includes a marine reserve with a total area of 3337.68 km ², which includes a zone of open sea with a width of approximately 20 to 30 km of the reef. The largest part of the reef is protected by a northern and a southern core zone, with areas of 197.32 or 119.37 km ².
Underwater reef has a high biodiversity. It is considered as a nursery for many fish species in the region. In the story ran in the shallows of the reef many ships aground. The wrecks were integrated by nature in the reef and have a significant cultural value.