Marine iguana
Amblyrhynchus cristatus
Conservation status IUCN: Vulnerable· VU
— Where the name comes from
Iguana comes from the Taíno iwana by way of Spanish: one of the few Caribbean words to survive the destruction of the people who spoke it. Amblyrhynchus is Greek, “blunt snout”; cristatus, Latin, “crested”.
— Facts
- Group
- Reptiles · Reptilia
- Order
- Squamates
- Habitat
- Rocky volcanic coasts and shallow water
- Range
- Found only in the Galápagos
- Size
- 60–130 cm, up to 12 kg
- Diet
- Herbivore — algae grazed off submerged rock
- Lifespan
- about 12 years
— Characteristics
- 01
The only marine lizard in the world.
- 02
Dives to 20 m and can stay under for half an hour.
- 03
Gets rid of surplus salt by sneezing it out of nasal glands.
— What sets it apart
In El Niño years, when the algae vanish, the marine iguana shortens: it resorbs bone tissue and loses up to 20% of its length, then grows back when the food returns. It is the only vertebrate known to shrink its own skeleton as an adult. Darwin found them repulsive and called them “imps of darkness”.
