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Banco Chinchorro, Costa Maya, Mexico: Banco Chinchorro is an impressive reef, which is considered to be the largest reef in Mexico
and the second largest in the world, is found 30 km to the northeast of Xcalak in the State of Quintana Roo, Mexico.
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BANCO
CHINCHORRO
Banco Chinchorro is an impressive reef, which is considered to be
the largest reef in Mexico and the second largest in the world, is
found 30 km to the northeast of Xcalak in in the State of Quintana
Roo, Mexico.
Banco Chinchorro Biosphere Reserve is located in the south east coast of Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. It is off the shoreline, which nearest point is 30.8 km. Total area is 144,360 ha (346,187 acres). The geological formation of
Banco Chinchorro Biosphere Reserve and its physiography confers unique characteristics to reef formations, both in national and regional
level with an inner reef lagoon 60,000 ha (143,885
acres).
Banco
Chinchorro has been declared a National Park and from the surface you can see
sunken ships of different periods and nations, as well as several species of
black coral.
Background
There are diverse ecosystems in
Banco Chinchorro Biosphere Reserve.
They provide shelter and are used as nursery for several species, marine and terrestrial, with ecological and commercial relevance. Some birds, as Anas discors and Mycteria
americana, are threatened species.
There are only 13 reptile species reported for The Reserve, ten of them protected by Mexican laws, included Crocodylus acutus and Boa constrictor.
Reefs are the best-represented ecosystems in
Chinchorro, and this makes it the richest coral reef site in Mexico. It has 95 coral species reported; some of them protected, as Plexaura
homomalia, Acropora palmata and A. cervicornis.
Seagrass, mainly represented by Thalassia testudinum, are very important reproduction and breeding zones for diverse fish (206 species) and invertebrate species.
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Mangroves with Rhizophora mangle, Laguncularia racemosa, Conocarpus erectus and Avicennia germinans (species under special protection), are breeding and nesting zones for local and migrating birds.
Endangered marine turtles as Eretmochelys imbricata, Caretta caretta and Chelonia
mydas, use reefs for feeding and sand beaches for nesting.
Its great biodiversity, the presence of endemic and threatened species, and its relative insulation makes Chinchorro a very important area for conservation and sustainable use.
The National Biodiversity Commission classifies it as a Priority Region A-70, the WWF considers it in the global 200 priority areas and TNC considers it one of the two priority areas of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System. This zone was decreed as a natural protected area on July 19th, 1996.
Anemones are so like flowers that it is difficult to believe
they are animals.
Found on Chinchorro in great numbers, anemones are related to
polyps, but are larger. They are found in bright colors and have tentacles from
which tube worms open plankton-trapping "umbrellas" that resemble the
plumage of exotic birds.
Sponges are also
found in abundance on the reef. They come in a variety of species, at least 20
of which live in Chinchorro. The largest is the sea tub (Xestospongia muta),
so named because it often grows to resemble a bathtub.
The sea urchin
most commonly seen at Chinchorro is the Diadema antillarum, which has
long, dark, pointy spines. A shorter, thicker-spined species is just as
prevalent, but because it prefers the underside of rocks and the nooks and
crannies of hard coral, it is rarely seen.
Star snakes also like to hide in
rocks. They are similar to star fish but have longer appendages and are covered
in spines. Other reef dwellers include various kinds of crab, shrimp, snail,
conch, and worms. Many reef creatures are nocturnal and are seldom active during
the day, others, if out, are cautious. Creatures that seem do not seem to have a
care in the world are fish.
Of the 200 species identified so far, the majority
are colored tropical fish that tend to swim in schools: parrotfish,
butterflyfish, angelfish, baloonfish, sergeant majors, surgeonfish, damselfish,
blue angelfish, tangs, wrasse, jacknife and many others. These bits of color
flit among the coral, apparently unperturbed by man or beast, certainly not by
the barracuda and moray eel, both of which feed on their species.
The Chinchorro Reef was known to sailors who dreaded it as early
as the colonial period. Traveling from Cartagena, Colombia, to Spain by way of
Havana, Cuba required ships to pass close to the bank. The winds and currents of
the region worked against them, and many vessels went down at the reef. The
remains of at least 18 ships that sank between 1600 and 1800 have been
discovered.
The reef has
proved just as treacherous to modern ships. Near Cayo Centro there is a wreck
called the Glenview, a British cargo ship with a 120-meter draft that went down
in 1960 not far from the Ginger Scout, which preceded it four years earlier. The
list of ships that have ended their days on the reef is long: the Cassel, the
Far Star, the Tropic, the Huba, the San Andres, and others so torn up, only
their canons and the river rocks they used for ballast are left. At one spot a
line of anchors, obviously dropped one after the other in a desperate attempt to
stay the ship, is all that remains.
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