Fernandina Marine Iguana
Amblyrhynchus cristatus cristatus
Natural History:
The marine iguana is endemic to the Galapagos Archipelago and are unlike any other lizard. The Marine Iguana as its name suggests is an aquatic lizard that spends the majority of its time in the ocean. Being ectothermic they cannot regulate their own body temperature and every morning they gather on rocks to sunbath. When they are warm enough they plunge into the ocean in search of food. They can swim down to 10m deep and can hold their breath for over an hour which enables them to feed on seaweed.
During part of the year an event occurs called El Niño where ocean currents cause a large die off of algae, the iguanas main food source. During this time Marine Iguanas will shrink and grow back once food sources have returned. This is done by their ability to break down bone tissue and within months have it rebuild again.
Because of the amount of salt water consumed, the Marine Iguana has a specialized organ that separates the salt which is expelled through their nose in the form of "sneezes".
For most of the year Marine Iguanas are black to dark grey in colour to camouflage with their lava rock surroundings so not to become predated by Galapagos Hawks or Galapagos Racers which prey on the young. For part of the year from January to March, the males become bright red with shades of blue and other colours in order to attract a mate which they breed with using their hemipenis (two penises).
Because there are many islands isolated from one another it allows many animals to evolve independently from one another. The Marine Iguanas evolved independently from one another as well however due to their aquatic nature, many different subspecies have been known to traverse onto other islands and interbreed with different subspecies. The subspecies only differ genetically and their physical appearance is universal with the exception of areas with larger amounts of food which may have larger iguanas. This means that any hybrid offspring can only be differentiated by looking at their DNA as there is no way to tell based on physical features. The A. c. cristatus subspecies is native to Fernandina Island.
The marine iguana is endemic to the Galapagos Archipelago and are unlike any other lizard. The Marine Iguana as its name suggests is an aquatic lizard that spends the majority of its time in the ocean. Being ectothermic they cannot regulate their own body temperature and every morning they gather on rocks to sunbath. When they are warm enough they plunge into the ocean in search of food. They can swim down to 10m deep and can hold their breath for over an hour which enables them to feed on seaweed.
During part of the year an event occurs called El Niño where ocean currents cause a large die off of algae, the iguanas main food source. During this time Marine Iguanas will shrink and grow back once food sources have returned. This is done by their ability to break down bone tissue and within months have it rebuild again.
Because of the amount of salt water consumed, the Marine Iguana has a specialized organ that separates the salt which is expelled through their nose in the form of "sneezes".
For most of the year Marine Iguanas are black to dark grey in colour to camouflage with their lava rock surroundings so not to become predated by Galapagos Hawks or Galapagos Racers which prey on the young. For part of the year from January to March, the males become bright red with shades of blue and other colours in order to attract a mate which they breed with using their hemipenis (two penises).
Because there are many islands isolated from one another it allows many animals to evolve independently from one another. The Marine Iguanas evolved independently from one another as well however due to their aquatic nature, many different subspecies have been known to traverse onto other islands and interbreed with different subspecies. The subspecies only differ genetically and their physical appearance is universal with the exception of areas with larger amounts of food which may have larger iguanas. This means that any hybrid offspring can only be differentiated by looking at their DNA as there is no way to tell based on physical features. The A. c. cristatus subspecies is native to Fernandina Island.