Genovesa

Today we were on one of the northern islands of the Galapagos archipelago; Genovesa is the island of one million sea birds. Wherever you look, there are sea bird silhouettes, and all of these species depend directly on the marine ecosystems. From plankton to predatory fish, from barnacles to sea mammals, there are unlimited numbers of creatures living in these waters. Reef fish are among my favorites. Finding food and shelter on the rocky shores of the Galapagos, they are the ones we see the most. Not many are as colorful as the king angelfish, shown in the picture. Sometimes solitary, sometimes in big schools, this fish prefers shallow water and its diet consists primarily of algae, plankton and invertebrates. There are at least seven genera in the angelfish family (Pomacanthidae), with 74 species worldwide. Only one of the four known eastern pacific species is found in the Galapagos, the king angelfish. There is one angelfish on the planet called "queen angelfish", but in Galapagos we only have the "kings".