Bartolome & Santiago Islands
Not only is our morning’s visitor sight, Bartolome Islet, a paradise for geologists but it offers virtually aquarium-like conditions for all fans of snorkeling, both those who had undertaken this activity prior to their trip to Galapagos and those who learned just this week. It was fantastic to get in the water, today’s temperature was delicious and the variety of molluscs, crustaceans, echinoderms, fishes and cnidarians was outstanding.
The rainbow-like palette of colors decorating the intricate sea-bottom was spectacular and one of the most colorful species we saw was a representative of the marine invertebrate phylum Cnidaria. This particular phylum is comprised of such diverse organisms as anemones, jellyfish, hydrozoans and corals, both stony and soft. It is the orange cup-coral, an ahermatypic (that is non reef-building, or soft) coral that dots the Galapagos intertidal and subtidal zones with splashes of vivid color. This animal varies in color from white to pink, and has a limited finger-like branching about 15 cm high
We also saw some scleractinian (hermatypic or stony) coral formations, which make up a complex and dynamic environment and show a remarkable symbiosis between coral polyp and thousands of microscopic unicellular algae cells called zooxanthellae.
The existence of all this natural beauty certainly conveys to our guests a great delight, and fills us all with satisfaction at seeing the exquisite variety of these handsome creatures. It is also gratifying to see the considerable diversity of our marine life, which serves as an indicator of the health and equilibrium of the coastal water of the Galapagos.
Not only is our morning’s visitor sight, Bartolome Islet, a paradise for geologists but it offers virtually aquarium-like conditions for all fans of snorkeling, both those who had undertaken this activity prior to their trip to Galapagos and those who learned just this week. It was fantastic to get in the water, today’s temperature was delicious and the variety of molluscs, crustaceans, echinoderms, fishes and cnidarians was outstanding.
The rainbow-like palette of colors decorating the intricate sea-bottom was spectacular and one of the most colorful species we saw was a representative of the marine invertebrate phylum Cnidaria. This particular phylum is comprised of such diverse organisms as anemones, jellyfish, hydrozoans and corals, both stony and soft. It is the orange cup-coral, an ahermatypic (that is non reef-building, or soft) coral that dots the Galapagos intertidal and subtidal zones with splashes of vivid color. This animal varies in color from white to pink, and has a limited finger-like branching about 15 cm high
We also saw some scleractinian (hermatypic or stony) coral formations, which make up a complex and dynamic environment and show a remarkable symbiosis between coral polyp and thousands of microscopic unicellular algae cells called zooxanthellae.
The existence of all this natural beauty certainly conveys to our guests a great delight, and fills us all with satisfaction at seeing the exquisite variety of these handsome creatures. It is also gratifying to see the considerable diversity of our marine life, which serves as an indicator of the health and equilibrium of the coastal water of the Galapagos.
