Reptiles
Marine iguana
Amblyrhynchus cristatusConservation statusVulnerable
DietSeaweed only
LifespanAbout 12 years on average
Size and weightUp to about 1.5 m long
A black to dark gray lizard. After diving, many lie together in heaps on the lava rocks to warm up.
Salt gland
What makes it specialIn El Niño years (years with a warm sea), the seaweed disappears. Then its body gets up to 20 percent shorter, bones included, and later grows back.
Surprising factA salt gland takes the salt out of the seawater. It "sneezes" the extra salt out through its nostrils.
PopulationAbout 200,000-300,000. It is endemic: it lives only here, and the whole world population is in Ecuador.
Puerto Egas, and Punta Espinosa on Fernandina