Marine iguana | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Suborder: | Iguania |
Family: | Iguanidae |
Genus: | Amblyrhynchus Bell, 1825 |
Species: | A. cristatus
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Binomial name | |
Amblyrhynchus cristatus Bell, 1825
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Subspecies | |
7–11 subspecies; see text | |
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The marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) is an iguana found only on the Galápagos Islands. It is the only modern lizard, to live and forage in the sea. Also unusually, it is a vegetarian. It only eats algae.
The iguana can dive over 9 m (30 ft) into the water. It has spread to all the islands in the archipelago, and is sometimes called the Galápagos marine iguana. It mainly lives on the rocky Galápagos shore to warm from the comparably cold water. It can also be spotted in marshes and mangrove beaches. Charles Darwin described them:
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