Sun rising over Los Tintoreras,
small islands in front of Puerto Villamil.
Heron on lookout on mangrove branch and Galapagos Penguin
and sea lion pup on shore.
Sea Lions are found everywhere and they are quite playful,
chasing small reef sharks in this narrow channel.
Red Mangrove is the most spread species in the isles.Mangroves are found at the
edge of salt water and can tolerate its high salinity.
Those islands are actually remainder of a lava flow which reached the
ocean. The surface is very rugged and sharp.
White-tipped reef sharks are fairly common in the archipelago. Their
name in Spanish is tintorera, thus the name of this site as they are
always found here resting in the shallow waters.
Sea urchins settle
on the bottom of shallow waters where the feed on tiny algae and
invertebrates.
Sea cucumbers are
actually animals belonging to the echinoderms and a delicatessen for Asian people. That
unfortunately leads to over harvesting them and nobody real knows
how that affects the ocean environment.
