Photos

The Marine Iguana is the world's only true marine lizard and is found only in the Galapagos Islands. They live on every island in the archipelago and they are easy enough to see at close range.

Being a cold-blooded creature, Marine Iguanas need to heat up their body before taking to the ocean to look for seaweed, their main source of nutrition. They also need to heat their bodies up once they return to land in order for their stomachs to start digesting the seaweed they've just eaten. This is why for much of the day they can be found spread-eagled with their belly's pressed to the hot coastal rocks, basking in the sun.

The iguana in the photograph is feeding on seaweed and algae attached to the shoreline rocks. At high tide these rocks are submerged in seawater but for a coupleo of hours these rocks are above sea level making for easier grazing!

Incidentally, Marine Iguanas can dive to a depth of 10 metres to graze on the seaweed and can stay under water for up to an hour holding their breath.

Whilst they are sunbathing on the rocks they often emit two fine plumes of spray from their nostrils accompanied by a noise similar to a human sneeze. This common procedure is to rid their bodies of ingested sea salt, gained whilst swallowing seaweed underwater and is snorted out to prevent dehydration.

Marine Iguanas often have red tinges to their skin and this is a result of eating red algae which is more prevalent around some islands than others. Those Iguanas that eat more red algae have more red in their skin. They also tend to accumulate barnacles on their skin over time as a result of their aquatic tendencies. The one I have photographed has a rather barnacled head!

Marine Iguanas can grow to a length of 1.5 metres and weigh up to 13kg in weight.

If you want to see what a complete Marine Iguana looks like instead of just the head as shown above then click here for another photo of mine.

Have a good weekend!

Rich