Blue Whale in Costa Rica
October 30th, 2012
For most travelers to Cocos Island, the pelagic ocean life is the main draw of the area. Since the area is a fascinating meeting point between the shallow and deep water in the region, the area is a hotbed for pelagic ocean creatures. One of the most frequently viewed species viewed in the waters of Cocos Island are schools of hammerhead sharks. It is commonly believed that Cocos Island hosts the largest schools on the planet of the hammerhead sharks. Experienced divers have noted that there is at least one large creature to witness in almost every single dive in the Cocos’ waters. The waters of Cocos Island are generously filled by nature with reefs owing to which thousands of vibrantly colored and designed fish can also be observed in the area.
Overflowing with a vast ocean scape and a huge amount of wildlife, Cocos Island National Park is known to be one of the planet’s top scuba diving destinations. The marine animal sighting creates a diver’s paradise especially for shark divers. The unruffled waters and rocky pinnacles encircling the Cocos shores attract several hammerheads, white tip reef sharks, jacks, and rays.
Cocos Island in Costa Rica is surrounded by a large number of natural resources. These include rich coral reefs, volcano tunnels, caves and clear, emerald water. The area is said to be inhabited by over 30 species of coral, 60 species of crustaceans, 600 different mollusks, and about 300 varieties of fish. The marine creatures found in the waters of Cocos Island include yellow-fin tuna, giant manta rays, sailfish, and a variety of shark species. White tip reef sharks and scalloped hammerhead sharks are regularly spotted in the region. The whale shark, known to be the largest creature to exist can be commonly seen near Cocos Island in Costa Rica. There are several other large ocean creatures found in the area for instance humpback whales, pilot whales, bottlenose dolphins, and sea lions. Some reptiles found here include hawksbill turtles, green turtles and olive ridley turtles.
Hammerhead sharks are lured to the Cocos to be cleaned by King angelfish, butterflyfish and other smaller aquatic species. The Cocos islands are famous for being giant cleaning stations. Innumerable white-tip sharks can be spotted at every dive. Large schools of bigeyed jacks, barracuda, snappers and grunts can also be spotted at several dives. Marble rays are spotted frequently in groups of 5-20. Marble rays are always moving about in a fascinating parade like style.
There are other regular shark species most notably include the whitetip reef sharks and Galapagos, silky, tiger, blacktip, silvertip and guitar sharks. They are also accompanied by a variety of raya species such as mobula, marble, manta and eagle rays parading around on the lookout for cleaning stations. Bajo Alcyone is the primary Costa Rica diving spot to see hundreds of hammerhead sharks and large aquatics at their best. The submerged mountain is the best spot in the region to witness manta and mobula rays making its way into the cleaning stations of hammerhead sharks on all sides as they descend to below the thermocline.
Although no fishing or taking of sea life is permitted within the 22.22 km periphery of the island, a lack of enforcement meant that unlawful commercial fishing and shark-finning was prevalent in the waters until 1992. Post the corrective action, park wardens have been stationed permanently on the island and shark numbers have dramatically increased again despite illegal fishing posing to be a serious issue. On 3 March 2011, Costa Rican president Laura Chinchilla Miranda signed a decree for a new protected zone termed the ‘Seamounts Marine Management Area’ which is believed to be five times bigger than the existing park.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocos_Island
http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/news/case-study-cocos-island-national-park/?ar_a=1
http://www.dive-the-world.com/reefs-and-parks-costa-rica-cocos-island-national-park.php
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