Fauna of Puerto Rico
Encyclopedia
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
s, with high endemism
Endemic (ecology)
Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...
, and low, skewed taxonomic diversity
Alpha diversity
Alpha diversity is the biodiversity within a particular area, community or ecosystem, and is usually expressed as the species richness of the area. This can be measured by counting the number of taxa within the ecosystem...
. Bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s are the only extant native terrestrial mammals in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. All other terrestrial mammals in the area were introduced by humans, and include species such as cats, goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
s, sheep, the Small Asian Mongoose, and escaped monkey
Monkey
A monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...
s. Marine
Marine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...
mammals include dolphin
Dolphin
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...
s, manatee
Manatee
Manatees are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows...
s, and whale
Whale
Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...
s. Of the 349 bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
species, about 120 breed in the archipelago, and 47.5% are accidental or rare. The most recognizable and famous animal of Puerto Rico is probably the Common Coquí, a small endemic frog, and one of the 86 species that constitute Puerto Rico's herpetofauna. Some native freshwater fish inhabit Puerto Rico, but some species, introduced by humans, have established populations in reservoir
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
s and river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
s. The low richness-high diversity pattern is also apparent among invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s, which constitutes most of the archipelago's fauna.
The arrival of the first people about 4,000 years ago and, to a larger extent, of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
ans more than 500 years ago, had a significant effect on Puerto Rico's fauna. Hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
, habitat
Habitat (ecology)
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...
destruction, and the introduction of non-native species led to extinction
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
s and extirpations (local extinctions). Conservation
Conservation ethic
Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection. Its primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the natural world: its, fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity. Secondary focus is on materials conservation and energy conservation, which are seen as important to...
efforts, the most notable being for the Puerto Rican Parrot
Puerto Rican Parrot
The Puerto Rican Amazon , also known as the Puerto Rican Parrot or Iguaca, is the only bird endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico belonging to the Neotropical genus Amazona. Measuring , the bird is a predominantly green parrot with a red forehead and white rings around the eyes...
, began in the second half of the 20th century. According to IUCN, as of 2002, there were 21 threatened species in Puerto Rico: two mammals, eight breeding birds, eight reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s, and three amphibian
Amphibian
Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
s.
Origin of Puerto Rican fauna
Caribbean Plate
The Caribbean Plate is a mostly oceanic tectonic plate underlying Central America and the Caribbean Sea off the north coast of South America....
, an oceanic tectonic plate on which Puerto Rico and the Antilles
Antilles
The Antilles islands form the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. The Antilles are divided into two major groups: the "Greater Antilles" to the north and west, including the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico; and the smaller "Lesser Antilles" on the...
(with the exception of Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
) lie, was formed in the late Mesozoic
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...
. According to Rosen, when South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
separated from Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, a volcanic archipelago known as "Proto-Antilles" was formed. It later divided into the present-day Greater
Greater Antilles
The Greater Antilles are one of three island groups in the Caribbean. Comprising Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico, the Greater Antilles constitute almost 90% of the land mass of the entire West Indies.-Greater Antilles in context :The islands of the Caribbean Sea, collectively known as...
and Lesser Antilles
Lesser Antilles
The Lesser Antilles are a long, partly volcanic island arc in the Western Hemisphere. Most of its islands form the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, with the remainder located in the southern Caribbean just north of South America...
because of a new fault line in the "Proto-Antilles". Geologically, the archipelago of Puerto Rico is young, having formed about 135 Ma (million years) ago. The prevailing hypothesis, proposed by Howard Meyerhoff, posits that the Puerto Rican Bank, consisting of Puerto Rico, its outlying islands, and the Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands are the western island group of the Leeward Islands, which are the northern part of the Lesser Antilles, which form the border between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean...
with the exception of St. Croix, was formed from volcanism in the Cretaceous Period
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
. Rock samples from Sierra Bermeja in southwestern Puerto Rico, dated to the late Jurassic/early Cretaceous period, confirm this theory.
There is ongoing debate over when and how the ancestors of vertebrate fauna
Vertebrate
Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...
colonized the Antilles—particularly whether the Proto-Antilles were oceanic islands or whether they once formed a land connection between South and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. The first, and prevailing, model favors overwater dispersal from continental, primarily South American, fauna; the other suggests the vicarization
Speciation
Speciation is the evolutionary process by which new biological species arise. The biologist Orator F. Cook seems to have been the first to coin the term 'speciation' for the splitting of lineages or 'cladogenesis,' as opposed to 'anagenesis' or 'phyletic evolution' occurring within lineages...
of proto-Antillean fauna. Hedges et al. conclude that dispersal was "the primary mechanism for the origin of West Indian biota". Vertebrate terrestrial genera such as Eleutherodactylus
Eleutherodactylus
Eleutherodactylus is a genus of frogs in the Leptodactylidae family. It is typically described as the largest vertebrate genus on Earth, with over 700 species...
dispersed in a "filter" effect among the islands before any vicarization event occurred. However, other fauna such as the endemic Antillean insectivores (Nesophontes sp., Solenodon marcanoi and others) and freshwater fish appear to have colonized the West Indies earlier through other means. Woods provides evidence to support this hypothesis by analyzing the arrival of ancestors of the Antillean capromyids
Hutia
Hutias are moderately large cavy-like rodents of the family Capromyidae that inhabit the Caribbean Islands. They range in size from , and can weigh up to . Twenty species of hutia have been identified, and half may be extinct. They resemble the nutria in some respects...
and echimyids
Spiny rat
The spiny rats are a group of hystricognath rodents in the family Echimyidae. They are distributed from central Central America through much of South America. They were also found in the West Indies until the 19th century...
, concluding that an ancient echimyid must have arrived on the Greater Antilles from South America either by island-hopping through the Lesser Antilles or by rafting either to Puerto Rico or Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
.
MacPhee and Iturralde provide an alternate hypothesis that the initiators of land mammal clade
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
s arrived on the Proto-Antilles by the mid-Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
period, approximately at the Eocene
Eocene
The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...
–Oligocene
Oligocene
The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 34 million to 23 million years before the present . As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are slightly...
boundary. A short-lived (~1 Ma) landmass named "GAARlandia" (Greater Antilles + Aves Ridge land) connected northwestern South America with three of the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico) during this period. Afterwards, during the fragmentation of the Proto-Antilles, divergence of vacariated lines would have begun.
The last major changes in Puerto Rican fauna occurred about 10,000 years ago as a result of the post-Ice Age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
rise in sea level and associated environmental changes. Puerto Rico's transformation from a dry savanna environment to its present moist, forested state led to mass extinctions, especially of the vertebrate fauna. Around this time, the Puerto Rican Bank—a single landmass comprising the archipelago of Puerto Rico (except for Mona
Mona, Puerto Rico
Mona is the third largest island of the archipelago of Puerto Rico, after the main island of Puerto Rico and Vieques. It is the largest of three islands located in the Mona Passage, a strait between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, the others being Monito Island and Desecheo Island...
, Monito
Monito Island
Monito Island is an uninhabited island about 5 kilometers northwest of much larger Mona Island. Monito is the masculine diminutive form of Mona in Spanish. It is one of three islands in the Mona Passage, and part of the Isla de Mona e Islote Monito barrio, a subdivision of the municipality of...
and Desecheo
Desecheo Island
Desecheo is a small uninhabited island of the archipelago of Puerto Rico located in the northeast of the Mona Passage; 21 km from the west coast of the main island of Puerto Rico and 50 km northeast of Mona Island. It has a land area of 1.5 km² . Politically, the island is...
) and the Virgin Islands (except for St. Croix)—became separated. The Puerto Rican Bank has never been connected to its closest eastern bank, St. Maarten.
Mammals
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s in Puerto Rico, like many other islands, is low relative to mainland regions. The present-day native terrestrial mammal fauna of Puerto Rico is composed of only 13 species, all of which are bats. Eighteen marine mammals, including manatee
Manatee
Manatees are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows...
s, dolphin
Dolphin
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...
s and whale
Whale
Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...
s, occur in Puerto Rico. Fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
records show the existence of one shrew (Puerto Rican shrew
Puerto Rican shrew
The Puerto Rican Nesophontes , or Puerto Rican Shrew, is an extinct soricomorph endemic to the island of Puerto Rico....
, Nesophontes edithae), one sloth
Sloth
Sloths are the six species of medium-sized mammals belonging to the families Megalonychidae and Bradypodidae , part of the order Pilosa and therefore related to armadillos and anteaters, which sport a similar set of specialized claws.They are arboreal residents of the jungles of Central and South...
(Puerto Rican Sloth), three additional leaf-nosed bats (Macrotus waterhousii, Monophyllus plethodon, and Phyllonycteris major), and five rodent
Rodent
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
s (one giant hutia
Giant hutia
The giant hutias are an extinct group of large rodents known from fossil and subfossil material in the West Indies. One species, Amblyrhiza inundata, is estimated to have weighed between , big specimens being as large as an American Black Bear...
: Elasmodontomys obliquus, one hutia
Hutia
Hutias are moderately large cavy-like rodents of the family Capromyidae that inhabit the Caribbean Islands. They range in size from , and can weigh up to . Twenty species of hutia have been identified, and half may be extinct. They resemble the nutria in some respects...
: Isolobodon portoricensis and three spiny rats: Heteropsomys antillensis, Heteropsomys insulans, and Puertoricomys corozalus). Woods suggests a reason for their extinction: "Taxa evolving in isolation on oceanic islands without competition or predators may not be able to adapt to rapidly changing conditions, such as the extensive climatic fluctuations of the Ice Ages or sudden competition or predation from introduced animals".
Other terrestrial mammals have been introduced throughout the history of Puerto Rico. Indigenous settlers first introduced dogs and guinea pigs from South or Central America. Afterwards, Taíno
Taíno people
The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is thought that the seafaring Taínos are relatives of the Arawak people of South America...
s introduced hutia
Hutia
Hutias are moderately large cavy-like rodents of the family Capromyidae that inhabit the Caribbean Islands. They range in size from , and can weigh up to . Twenty species of hutia have been identified, and half may be extinct. They resemble the nutria in some respects...
s as a food source from Hispaniola. When the Spanish
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
colonized the island in the early 16th century, they introduced domesticated animals such as dogs, cats, goats, pigs, cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
, horses, and donkey
Donkey
The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...
s. Other species such as Black Rat
Black Rat
The black rat is a common long-tailed rodent of the genus Rattus in the subfamily Murinae . The species originated in tropical Asia and spread through the Near East in Roman times before reaching Europe by the 1st century and spreading with Europeans across the world.-Taxonomy:The black rat was...
s (Rattus rattus), Norway Rats (Rattus norvegicus) and house mice (Mus sp.) have been unintentionally introduced as stowaways, possibly since Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
's arrival in 1493. More recently, species have been introduced as a means of biological pest control
Biological pest control
Biological control of pests in agriculture is a method of controlling pests that relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms...
. For example, the Small Asian Mongoose (Herpestes javanicus) was introduced in the 19th century to control the damage caused by rats in sugar cane plantations. The introduction was a failure: the mongoose failed to control the rat population and instead contributed to the decline of native fauna such as the Yellow-shouldered Blackbird
Yellow-shouldered Blackbird
The Yellow-shouldered Blackbird , also known as La Mariquita de Puerto Rico or Capitán, is a diurnal blackbird endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico and one of the eleven species belonging to the Agelaius genus of the Icteridae family.-Taxonomy:The nominate form of the Yellow-shouldered...
and possibly the Elfin-woods Warbler
Elfin-woods Warbler
The Elfin-woods Warbler , or Reinita de Bosque Enano , is a bird endemic to the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico where it is a local and uncommon species. Discovered in 1968 and described in 1972, it is the most recently described species of New World warbler...
.
Adaptation
An adaptation in biology is a trait with a current functional role in the life history of an organism that is maintained and evolved by means of natural selection. An adaptation refers to both the current state of being adapted and to the dynamic evolutionary process that leads to the adaptation....
, 57 Rhesus Macaque
Rhesus Macaque
The Rhesus macaque , also called the Rhesus monkey, is one of the best-known species of Old World monkeys. It is listed as Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and its tolerance of a broad range of habitats...
s (Macaca mulatta) were introduced to the island of Desecheo and other southern off-shore islands and cays in 1967. Prior to the introduction, Desecheo was the largest nesting colony of the Brown Booby
Brown Booby
The Brown Booby is a large seabird of the booby family, Sulidae. The adult brown booby reaches about in length. Its head and upper body are covered in dark brown, with the remainder being a contrasting white. The juvenile form is gray-brown with darkening on the head, wings and tail...
, but mainly as a result of egg predation
Predation
In ecology, predation describes a biological interaction where a predator feeds on its prey . Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation always results in the death of its prey and the eventual absorption of the prey's tissue through consumption...
by the introduced macaques, no bird species presently nests in the island. Efforts to trap and remove the species have been unsuccessful and it has expanded its range to southwestern Puerto Rico. Other primate
Primate
A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...
s also have established populations in Puerto Rico. As a result of vandalism, 107 Squirrel monkey
Squirrel monkey
The squirrel monkeys are the New World monkeys of the genus Saimiri. They are the only genus in the subfamily Saimirinae.Squirrel monkeys live in the tropical forests of Central and South America in the canopy layer. Most species have parapatric or allopatric ranges in the Amazon, while S...
s escaped from a research station at Sabana Seca in the late 1970s. The latest estimate for this population is 35 individuals.
West Indian Manatee
The West Indian Manatee is a manatee, and the largest surviving member of the aquatic mammal order Sirenia . The West Indian Manatee, Trichechus manatus, is a species distinct from the Amazonian Manatee, T. inunguis, and the West African Manatee, T. senegalensis...
(Trichechus manatus manatus) which is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. The archipelago's waters are one of the species' main breeding areas. Manatees gathered local media attention when a two-month manatee nicknamed Moisés was rescued and raised for 27 months by the Caribbean Stranding Network (CSN). Moisés was the first successful release of an orphaned, captive-raised manatee to the marine environment in the Caribbean. The animal became a Puerto Rican cultural, as well as scientific, icon when Tony Croatto
Tony Croatto
Hermes Davide Fastino Croatto Martinis, better known as Tony Croatto was an Italian singer and composer best known for his interpretations of Puerto Rican folk music. He was also a television presenter.-Biography:Born in Attimis, a comune in the province of Udine, Italy...
wrote a song titled "Moisés". A municipality of Puerto Rico, Manatí
Manatí, Puerto Rico
Manatí is a municipality of Puerto Rico in the northern coast, north of Morovis and Ciales; east of Florida and Barceloneta; and west of Vega Baja. Manatí is spread over 8 wards and Manatí Pueblo...
(Spanish for Manatee) is believed to be named after the species.
Puerto Rico's waters are also an important breeding site for the Humpback whale
Humpback Whale
The humpback whale is a species of baleen whale. One of the larger rorqual species, adults range in length from and weigh approximately . The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with unusually long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. It is an acrobatic animal, often breaching and slapping the...
during the Northern Hemisphere's winter. Humpback whale watching
Whale watching
Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and other cetaceans in their natural habitat. Whales are watched most commonly for recreation but the activity can also serve scientific or educational purposes. A 2009 study, prepared for IFAW, estimated that 13 million people went whale watching...
is a popular tourist attraction in the municipality of Rincón
Rincón, Puerto Rico
Rincón is a municipality of Puerto Rico founded in 1771 by Don Luis de Añasco . It is located in the Western Coastal Valley, west of Añasco and Aguada. Rincón is spread over 8 wards and Rincón Pueblo...
in western Puerto Rico.
Bats
Extant bats of Puerto Rico belong to five families (Noctilionidae, MormoopidaeMormoopidae
The family Mormoopidae contains bats known generally as mustached bats, ghost-faced bats, and naked-backed bats. They are found in the Americas from the Southwestern United States to Southeastern Brazil....
, Phyllostomidae, Vespertilionidae, and Molossidae) and include a total of 13 species, of which six subspecies are endemic to the archipelago. Seven of the 13 species are insectivore
Insectivore
An insectivore is a type of carnivore with a diet that consists chiefly of insects and similar small creatures. An alternate term is entomophage, which also refers to the human practice of eating insects....
s, four can be considered frugivore
Frugivore
A frugivore is a fruit eater. It can be any type of herbivore or omnivore where fruit is a preferred food type. Because approximately 20% of all mammalian herbivores also eat fruit, frugivory is considered to be common among mammals. Since frugivores eat a lot of fruit they are highly dependent...
s, one species feeds on nectar and another on fish. The species total is a relatively low number in comparison to the other Greater Antilles. Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, for example, with an area approximately 1.2 times that of Puerto Rico, has 21 species (1.6 times that of Puerto Rico). A possible explanation for this is the comparatively large distance between the archipelago and the mainland dispersion areas. Jamaica, for example, is closer to Cuba and Hispaniola which are themselves closer to the mainland dispersion areas of North and Central America.
Bats play an important role in forest and cave ecology in Puerto Rico and help control mosquito populations. Most species (10 of 13) are cave-dwellers with low reproductive rates; the area with the highest species richness is the Caribbean National Forest
Caribbean National Forest
El Yunque National Forest, formerly known as the Luquillo National Forest, and the Caribbean National Forest, is a forest located in northeastern Puerto Rico. It is the only tropical rain forest in the United States...
, where eleven species occur. The Red Fig-eating Bat, endemic to the Puerto Rican Bank, plays an important role in the ecology of tabonuco forest in the Luquillo Mountains since it is believed to be the only seed disperser of bulletwood (Manilkara bidentata). Cave ecosystems are enhanced by bat feces (guano
Guano
Guano is the excrement of seabirds, cave dwelling bats, and seals. Guano manure is an effective fertilizer due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and also its lack of odor. It was an important source of nitrates for gunpowder...
) since many of the invertebrate cave fauna are either guano scavengers, detrivores or predators of the former two.
The bat species that occur in the archipelago of Puerto Rico are: Greater Bulldog Bat
Greater Bulldog Bat
The greater bulldog bat or fisherman bat is a type of fishing bat native to Latin America. The bat uses echolocation to detect water ripples made by the fish upon which it preys, then uses the pouch between its legs to scoop the fish up and its sharp claws to catch and cling to it...
(Noctilio leporinus), Antillean Ghost-faced Bat
Antillean Ghost-faced Bat
The Antillean Ghost-faced Bat is a species of bat in the Mormoopidae family. It is found in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico.-References:...
(Mormoops blainvillii), Parnell's Mustached Bat
Parnell's Mustached Bat
Parnell's Mustached Bat, Pteronotus parnellii is an insectivorous bat native to North, Central and South America. This bat species ranges from southern Sonora, Mexico south to Brazil. Historically, it had a wider range as fossil specimens have been collected on the island of New Providence,...
(Pteronotus parnellii), Sooty Mustached Bat
Sooty Mustached Bat
The Sooty Mustached Bat is a species of bat in the Mormoopidae family. It is found in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico....
(Pteronotus quadridens), Jamaican Fruit Bat
Jamaican fruit bat
The Jamaican, Common or Mexican fruit bat is a fruit bat native to Central and South America, as well as the Greater and many of the Lesser Antilles. It is also an uncommon resident of the Southern Bahamas...
(Artibeus jamaicensis), Antillean Fruit Bat (Brachyphylla cavernarum), Brown Flower Bat (Erophylla sezekoni bombifrons), Leach's Single Leaf Bat
Leach's Single Leaf Bat
The Leach's Single Leaf Bat is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae. It is found in Bahamas, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico.-References:...
(Monophyllus redmani), Red Fruit Bat
Red Fruit Bat
The Red Fruit Bat or Red Fig-eating Bat is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae, in the monotypic genus Stenoderma. It is found in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands...
(Stenoderma rufum), Big Brown Bat
Big brown bat
The Big Brown Bat is larger in size than comparative species of bats, from about 4 to 5 inches in body length, with a 11-13 inch wingspan and weighing 1/2 to 5/8 ounce. The fur is moderately long, and shiny brown...
(Eptesicus fuscus), Eastern Red Bat
Eastern Red Bat
The Eastern Red Bat is a species of bat from the family Vespertilionidae. See also the Desert red bat , a related species....
(Lasiurus borealis), Velvety Free-tailed Bat
Velvety Free-tailed Bat
The Velvety Free-tailed Bat or Pallas's Mastiff Bat , is a bat species in the family Molossidae. It occurs in the Americas from Argentina north to Cuba and Mexico and also the Florida Keys in the United States....
(Molossus molossus), and Brazilian Free-tailed Bat (Tadarida brasiliensis).
Birds
Endemism in birds
An endemic bird area is a region of the world that contains two or more restricted-range species, while a "secondary area" contains one or more restricted-range species. Both terms were devised by Birdlife International....
to the archipelago. Almost half of the species (166) are accidental
Vagrancy (biology)
Vagrancy is a phenomenon in biology whereby individual animals appear well outside their normal range; individual animals which exhibit vagrancy are known as vagrants. The term accidental is sometimes also used...
, meaning that they have been sighted only once or twice, and 42 of the species have been introduced
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
, either directly or indirectly (mainly through habitat alteration), by humans. Approximately 120 species, including both native and introduced, breed regularly in the archipelago.
The avifauna of the West Indies is predominantly of tropical North American (southern North America and Central America) origin with aggressive South American species having colonized the area only recently. The South American families occurring in the Greater Antilles are the hummingbird
Hummingbird
Hummingbirds are birds that comprise the family Trochilidae. They are among the smallest of birds, most species measuring in the 7.5–13 cm range. Indeed, the smallest extant bird species is a hummingbird, the 5-cm Bee Hummingbird. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings...
s (Trochilidae), tyrant flycatcher
Tyrant flycatcher
The tyrant flycatchers are a family of passerine birds which occur throughout North and South America. They are considered the largest family of birds on Earth, with more than 400 species. They are the most diverse avian family in every country in the Americas, except for the United States and...
s (Tyrannidae), Bananaquit
Bananaquit
The Bananaquit is a species of passerine bird of uncertain relation. It is tentatively placed in the tanager family, but classified as incertae sedis by other authorities such as the American Ornithologists' Union. Its classification is debated, and it is often placed in its own family: Coerebidae...
(Coerebidae) and tanager
Tanager
The tanagers comprise the bird family Thraupidae, in the order Passeriformes. The family has an American distribution.There were traditionally about 240 species of tanagers, but the taxonomic treatment of this family's members is currently in a state of flux...
s (Thraupidae), all of which are represented in Puerto Rico. The prevailing theory suggests that bird fauna colonized the West Indies by transoceanic dispersal during the glacial periods of the Pleistocene. The most primitive West Indies birds are the Todies
Tody
The todies are a family, Todidae, of Caribbean birds in the order Coraciiformes, which also includes the kingfishers, bee-eaters and rollers. The family has one genus, Todus...
which have an endemic representative in Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rican Tody
Puerto Rican Tody
The Puerto Rican Tody is a tody endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico. Despite is scientific name, Todus mexicanus, it is endemic to Puerto Rico...
.
Swift
The swifts are a family, Apodidae, of highly aerial birds. They are superficially similar to swallows, but are actually not closely related to passerine species at all; swifts are in the separate order Apodiformes, which they share with hummingbirds...
, Tachornis uranoceles, dated to the late Pleistocene (between 17,000 and 21,000 years ago). The species is believed to have become extinct as a result of habitat alteration after the Wisconsin glaciation
Wisconsin glaciation
The last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age occurring during the last years of the Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago....
. At least six endemic species have become extinct in the last millennia: Puerto Rican Barn Owl (Tyto cavatica), Puerto Rican Caracara (Polyborus latebrosus), Puerto Rico Parakeet (Aratinga chloroptera maugei), Puerto Rican Woodcock (Scolopax anthonyi), Puerto Rican quail-dove (Geotrygon larva), and the Antillean Cave-Rail (Nesotrochis debooyi). With a population of 13 individuals in 1975, the Puerto Rican Parrot almost became the seventh, but conservation efforts helped save the species from extinction. However, it is still one of the ten most critically endangered birds in the world. Four Puerto Rican birds, the Hispaniolan Parakeet
Hispaniolan Parakeet
The Hispaniolan Parakeet, Conure Maîtresse, Aratinga De La Española, or Perico is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family.It is endemic to the island of Hispaniola...
, the White-necked Crow
White-necked Crow
The White-necked Crow is the largest of the four Caribbean crow species. Two other species, the Cuban Crow and the Jamaican Crow , appear to be very closely related to it sharing several key morphological features...
, the Cuban Crow
Cuban Crow
The Cuban Crow is one of four species of crow that occur on a few key islands in the Caribbean. It is closely related to the White-necked Crow and Jamaican Crow , with which it shares similar features. The fourth Caribbean crow, the Palm Crow The Cuban Crow (Corvus nasicus) is one of four species...
, and the Limpkin
Limpkin
The Limpkin , Aramus guarauna, is a bird that looks like a large rail but is skeletally closer to cranes. It is the only extant species in the genus Aramus and the family Aramidae. It is found mostly in wetlands in warm parts of the Americas, from Florida to northern Argentina...
, became extirpated after Puerto Rico's population expansion in the latter half of the nineteenth century and three more species, the Black-bellied Whistling Duck
Black-bellied Whistling Duck
The Black-bellied Whistling Duck , formerly also called Black-bellied Tree Duck, is a whistling duck that breeds from the southernmost United States and tropical Central to south-central South America. In the USA, it can be found year-round in parts of southeast Texas, and seasonally in southeast...
, the Black Rail
Black Rail
The Black Rail is a mouse-sized member of the Rallidae family of birds. It is found in scattered parts of North America and the Pacific region of South America, usually in coastal salt marshes but also in some freshwater marshes. It is extinct or threatened in many locations due to habitat loss...
, and the Greater Flamingo
Greater Flamingo
The Greater Flamingo is the most widespread species of the flamingo family. It is found in parts of Africa, southern Asia , and southern Europe...
, no longer breed in the archipelago.
Amphibians and reptiles
Amphibian
Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
species and 61 reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
species. The majority of West Indian terrestrial reptile clade is believed to have arrived by flotsam dispersion from South America. Little evidence exists to support the alternative hypothesis of proto-Antillean vicariance. Other terrestrial herpetofauna are believed to have arrived to the West Indies (and Puerto Rico) by the same method and subsequently undergone vicarization by banks or islands. As a result, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean in general, has one of the highest percentages of endemism among amphibians and reptiles in the world. Amphibian species in Puerto Rico belong to four families: Bufonidae (2 species), Hylidae (3), Leptodactylidae
Leptodactylidae
Leptodactylidae is a diverse family of frogs that probably diverged from other hyloids during the Cenozoic era, or possibly at the end of the Mesozoic. There are roughly 50 genera, one of which is Eleutherodactylus, the largest vertebrate genus, with over 700 species...
(18) and Ranidae (2). Reptiles include turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
s (freshwater and marine), lizard
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...
s, worm lizards, snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
s and a caiman
Caiman
Caimans are alligatorid crocodylians within the subfamily Caimaninae. The group is one of two subfamilies of the family Alligatoridae, the other being alligators. Caimans inhabit Central and South America. They are relatively small crocodilians, with most species reaching lengths of only a few...
.
All species of Ranidae and Hylidae occurring in Puerto Rico are introduced. One species from the Bufonidae family, the Cane Toad
Cane Toad
The Cane Toad , also known as the Giant Neotropical Toad or Marine Toad, is a large, terrestrial true toad which is native to Central and South America, but has been introduced to various islands throughout Oceania and the Caribbean...
, is introduced while the other, the Puerto Rican Crested Toad
Puerto Rican Crested Toad
The Puerto Rican Crested Toad or simply Puerto Rican Toad is a species of toad found only in Puerto Rico. It is the only species of toad native to Puerto Rico. The species formerly occurred in Virgin Gorda. It is listed as a threatened by the US Fish and Wildlife Service due to habitat loss and...
, is endemic and critically endangered. The Cane Toad was introduced to Puerto Rico in the 1920s to control the populations of white-grub
Phyllophaga (genus)
Phyllophaga is a very large genus of New World scarab beetles in the subfamily Melolonthinae. Common names for this genus and many other related genera in the subfamily Melolonthinae are May beetles, June bugs, and June beetles. They range in size from and are blackish or reddish-brown in colour,...
(Phyllophaga spp.), a sugar cane pest. All species from the Leptodactylidae family are native to the region. Of the 18 Leptodactylidae species, 17 are from the Eleutherodactylus
Eleutherodactylus
Eleutherodactylus is a genus of frogs in the Leptodactylidae family. It is typically described as the largest vertebrate genus on Earth, with over 700 species...
genus and are commonly known in Puerto Rico as coquís. Three of these, the Web-footed Coqui
Web-footed Coqui
The Web-footed Coqui also known as Karl's Robber Frog is a possible extinct Puerto Rican frog species from the coquí genus.-Description:...
, the Golden Coqui
Golden coquí
The Golden coquí is a rare and possibly extinct leptodactylid frog species endemic to Puerto Rico.-General description:...
and the Mottled Coqui
Mottled Coquí
Eneida's Coquí is a species of Coquí, a small variety of frog endemic to the main island of Puerto Rico and its archipelago. Known as Coquí de Eneida in Puerto Rico, this amphibian is mainly terrestrial. Its average adult size is from one to 1 3/16 inches. It has a number of small warts...
, are likely to be extinct. The Golden Coqui is the only live-bearing species from the Leptodactylidae family and Cook's Robber Frog (E. cooki) is the only Eleutherodactylus sp. that exhibits sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
in both size and color. The Common Coquí
Coquí
The Common Coquí or Coquí is a frog native to Puerto Rico belonging to the Eleutherodactylus genus of the Leptodactylidae family. The species is named for the loud sound the males make at night. This sound serves two purposes...
(Eleutherodactylus coqui) is an unofficial national symbol of Puerto Rico and an important aspect of Puerto Rican culture. Since 14 of the 17 coquís are endemic to the archipelago, a common phrase used by Puerto Ricans to assert their national pride is "De aquí como el coquí" (From here Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
like the coquí).
Hawksbill turtle
The hawksbill sea turtle is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in its genus. The species has a worldwide distribution, with Atlantic and Pacific subspecies. E. imbricata imbricata is the Atlantic subspecies, while E...
and the Leatherback Sea Turtle
Leatherback Sea Turtle
The leatherback sea turtle is the largest of all living sea turtles and the fourth largest modern reptile behind three crocodilians. It is the only living species in the genus Dermochelys. It can easily be differentiated from other modern sea turtles by its lack of a bony shell. Instead, its...
, are critically endangered. Threats to these species include habitat destruction and illegal capture of eggs and individuals. The Spectacled Caiman
Spectacled Caiman
The spectacled caiman , also known as the white caiman or common caiman, is a crocodilian reptile found in much of Central and South America. It lives in a range of lowland wetland and riverine habitat types and can tolerate salt water as well as fresh; due in part to this adaptability it is the...
, an introduced species, is the only representative of the Crocodilia order in Puerto Rico. The largest terrestrial lizard of the archipelago of Puerto Rico is the Mona Ground Iguana
Mona Ground Iguana
The Mona ground iguana is a subspecies of the rhinoceros iguana . It is endemic to Mona Island, Puerto Rico and is the largest native terrestrial lizard in Puerto Rico.- Taxonomy :...
(Cyclura cornuta stejnegeri). A subspecies of the Rhinoceros Iguana
Rhinoceros Iguana
The Rhinoceros Iguana is a threatened species of lizard in the family Iguanidae that is primarily found on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, shared by the Republic of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. They vary in length from 61 to 137 cm and skin colors range from a steely gray to a dark green...
(Cyclura cornuta), it is endemic to Mona Island, located in the Mona Passage
Mona Passage
The Mona Passage is a strait that separates the islands of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. The Mona Passage connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea, and is an important shipping route between the Atlantic and the Panama Canal....
between the main island of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
. Another Cyclura species of similar size, the Anegada Ground Iguana (Cyclura pinguis
Cyclura pinguis
The Stout Iguana or Anegada Ground Iguana is a critically endangered species of lizard of the genus Cyclura belonging to the Iguanidae family. The species can be found exclusively in the island of Anegada...
), once occurred in the archipelago but it became extirpated due to predation by dogs, cats, and humans, habitat destruction, and competition from goats and pigs, and is now restricted to Anegada
Anegada
Anegada is the northernmost of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands which form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. It lies approximately north of Virgin Gorda. Anegada is the only inhabited British Virgin Island formed from coral and limestone, rather than being of volcanic...
.
Typhlops
Typhlops is a genus of blind snakes found in Europe, Africa, Asia and Central and South America. Currently, 120 species are recognized.-Geographic range:...
genus), Boidae (Epicrates
Epicrates (genus)
Epicrates is a genus of non-venomous boas found in South America, Central America and the West Indies. Ten species are currently recognized.-Geographic range:...
) and Colubridae (Alsophis
Alsophis
Alsophis is a genus of snake in the Colubridae family. They are among those snakes called "racers" and occur throughout the Caribbean. Alsophis snakes are the world’s rarest form of snake, and are currently critically endangered. Alsophis snakes are small rear fanged snakes, proving them harmless...
and Arrhyton). The largest snake in Puerto Rico is the endemic Puerto Rican Boa
Puerto Rican Boa
The Puerto Rican Boa is a slender, terrestrial, viviparous boa with a dark brown coloration. It grows up to be about six to nine feet long. It feeds on small mammals, birds and lizards. As a member of the rainbow boas , it belongs to the family of the true boas...
(Epicrates inornatus) with a maximum length of 12 ft (3.7 m). The diet of snakes in Puerto Rico consists of reptiles (Ameiva, Anolis, Geckos), coquís and other frogs, and, to a lesser extent, mice, birds and bats (exclusively by the Puerto Rican Boa).
The most common lizard in Puerto Rico is the Sharp-mouthed Lizard
Sharp-mouthed Lizard
The Sharp-mouthed Lizard is a small lizard belonging to the Anolis genus of the Polychrotidae family. The species, the most common lizard in Puerto Rico, is also native to Vieques, Culebra, and the Virgin Islands ....
(Anolis pulchellus). The Anolis
Anolis
Anolis is a genus of lizards belonging to the family Polychrotidae. With nearly 400 species, Anolis represents the world's most species rich amniote genus. Several species of Anolis are occasionally ascribed to the genus Norops, but the validity of the Norops genus is not widely accepted...
lizards of Puerto Rico, and the Greater Antilles in general, represent an interesting case of adaptive radiation
Adaptive radiation
In evolutionary biology, adaptive radiation is the evolution of ecological and phenotypic diversity within a rapidly multiplying lineage. Starting with a recent single ancestor, this process results in the speciation and phenotypic adaptation of an array of species exhibiting different...
. Anolis lizards in the Greater Antilles are more closely related to other species within the same island than to species of adjacent islands. Surprisingly, even though species divergence occurred independently on each island, the same set of ecomorphs (habitat specialists) have evolved on each island.
Fish
Georges Cuvier
Georges Chrétien Léopold Dagobert Cuvier or Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier , known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist...
and Valenciennes
Achille Valenciennes
Achille Valenciennes was a French zoologist.Valenciennes was born in Paris, and studied under Georges Cuvier. Valenciennes' study of parasitic worms in humans made an important contribution to the study of parasitology...
in 1828. They reported 33 taxa for the archipelago. Puerto Rico has few native freshwater fish species; however, there are over 30 introduced species, mainly originating from Africa, South America and the southeastern United States, have established populations, and 60 marine species use Puerto Rico's freshwater bodies intermittently during the year. Introductions have been intentional and accidental. The purposes of intentional introductions have been sport fishing for recreation and food, mosquito control, and to provide baitfish
Bait fish
Bait fish are small fish caught for use as bait to attract large predatory fish, particularly game fish. Species used are typically those that are common and breed rapidly, making them easy to catch and in regular supply. Examples of marine bait fish are anchovies, halfbeaks such as ballyhoo, and...
for largemouth bass
Largemouth bass
The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...
. Accidental introductions, such as the sailfin armored catfish (Pterygoplichthys multiradiatus
Pterygoplichthys multiradiatus
Pterygoplichthys multiradiatus is a tropical fish known as a Plecostomus belonging to the armored catfish family . Named for its sail-like dorsal fin, the part of its scientific name multiradiatus means "many-rayed" and refers to the rays of the dorsal fin. P...
), are mainly attributed to the release of aquarium fish. Since 1936, the Puerto Rican Department of Natural and Environmental Resources runs a hatchery
Hatchery
A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish or poultry. It may be used for ex-situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled conditions; alternatively, it may be for economic reasons A hatchery is a...
at the municipality of Maricao. About 25,000 fish, including largemouth bass, peacock bass
Peacock Bass
Peacock bass is the common name in English for a group of closely related species of tropical, freshwater fish of the genus Cichla, native to the Amazon River basin of South America. They also inhabit the waters of Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Venezuela and parts of the United States,...
, and channel catfish
Channel catfish
Channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States they are the most fished catfish species with approximately 8...
, and some turtle species are raised annually to stock Puerto Rico's reservoirs and rivers.
Three types of habitats, mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
s, reef
Reef
In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
s and seagrass
Seagrass
Seagrasses are flowering plants from one of four plant families , all in the order Alismatales , which grow in marine, fully saline environments.-Ecology:...
es, are found in Puerto Rico's ocean waters. A total of 677 fish species live in these habitats; 242 being reef species. Fish species found in Puerto Rican reefs are representative of the general Caribbean fauna. Common reef fishes include wrasse
Wrasse
The wrasses are a family, Labridae, of marine fish, many of which are brightly colored. The family is large and diverse, with over 600 species in 82 genera, which are divided into nine subgroups or tribes....
s, damselfishes
Pomacentridae
Pomacentridae are a family of perciform fish, comprising the damselfishes and clownfishes. They are primarily marine, while a few species inhabit freshwater and brackish environments . They are noted for their hardy constitutions and territoriality...
, white grunts (Haemulon plumieri), bluestriped grunts (Haemulon sciurus), queen parrotfish (Scarus vetula), and shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
s (Carcharhinidae family). Sea breams (Archosargus rhomboidalis) and yellowfin mojarras (Gerres cinereus) are some of the species commonly found in mangrove habitats. Other species of interest include flatfish
Flatfish
The flatfish are an order of ray-finned fish, also called the Heterosomata, sometimes classified as a suborder of Perciformes. In many species, both eyes lie on one side of the head, one or the other migrating through and around the head during development...
es, with 21 recorded species, and sharks, with more than 20 species. Oceanic whitetip shark
Oceanic whitetip shark
The oceanic whitetip shark, Carcharhinus longimanus, is a large pelagic shark inhabiting tropical and warm temperate seas. Its stocky body is most notable for its long, white-tipped, rounded fins....
s and silky shark
Silky shark
The silky shark is a species of requiem shark, family Carcharhinidae, named for the smooth texture of its skin. It is one of the most abundant sharks in the pelagic zone, and can be found around the world in tropical waters. Highly mobile and migratory, this shark is most often found over the edge...
s are common in the Mona Passage.
Invertebrates
The invertebrateInvertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
fauna of Puerto Rico is high in richness but low in diversity relative to mainland neotropical faunas of similar size and habitat diversity. Puerto Rico, in comparison to other Antillean islands, is the most extensively studied in regards to invertebrates.
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
fauna, similar to the majority of major invertebrate taxa in the archipelago, is considered depauperate when compared to its mainland counterparts. For example, approximately 300 species of butterfly
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
occur in Puerto Rico, in contrast to more than 600 species in Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
and more than 1,500 species documented from a 7.5 km² region in Brazil. As of 1998, out of the estimated 925,000 described insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
species, only 5,573 were documented from Puerto Rico. In terms of diversity, of the 31 extant insect orders, 27 have representatives in Puerto Rico. The orders without reported representatives are Microcoryphia, Grylloblattaria
Grylloblattidae
Grylloblattidae is a family of extremophile and wingless insects that live in the cold on top of mountains. It belongs, as Mantophasmatidae, to the order of Notoptera.-Overview:...
, Plecoptera
Plecoptera
Plecoptera are an order of insects, commonly known as stoneflies. There are some 3,500 described species worldwide, with new species still being discovered. Stoneflies are found worldwide, except Antarctica...
, and Mecoptera
Mecoptera
Mecoptera are an order of insects with about 550 species in nine families worldwide. Mecoptera are sometimes called scorpionflies after their largest family, Panorpidae, in which the males have enlarged genitals that look similar to the stinger of a scorpion...
. The largest insect depository in Puerto Rico resides at the Museo de Entomología y Biodiversidad Tropical (Museum of Entomology and Tropical Biodiversity), part of the Agricultural Experimental Station of the University of Puerto Rico
University of Puerto Rico
The University of Puerto Rico is the state university system of Puerto Rico. The system consists of 11 campuses and has approximately 64,511 students and 5,300 faculty members...
.
Arachnid
Arachnid
Arachnids are a class of joint-legged invertebrate animals in the subphylum Chelicerata. All arachnids have eight legs, although in some species the front pair may convert to a sensory function. The term is derived from the Greek words , meaning "spider".Almost all extant arachnids are terrestrial...
s are important to the forest ecology
Forest ecology
Forest ecology is the scientific study of the interrelated patterns, processes, flora, fauna and ecosystems in forests. The management of forests is known as forestry, silviculture, and forest management...
, as both predators and prey. In some forest types, such as tabonuco forest, they are the major arboreal invertebrate predators; spiders being the most abundant representative. The Maricao Commonwealth Forest's 27 spider species belong to five families: Uloboridae, Pholcidae, Theridiidae
Theridiidae
Theridiidae is a large family of spiders, also known as the tangle-web spiders, cobweb spiders and comb-footed spiders. The diverse family includes over 2200 species in over 100 genera) of three-dimensional space-web-builders found throughout the world...
, Linyphiidae
Linyphiidae
Linyphiidae is a family of spiders, including more than 4,300 described species in 578 genera worldwide. This makes Linyphiidae the second largest family of spiders after the Salticidae. New species are still being discovered throughout the world, and the family is poorly known...
and Araneidae. Theotima minutissima
Theotima minutissima
Theotima minutissima is a minute spider.-Distribution:T. minutissima occurs in Panama, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Guam. It is especially abundant in the tropical forest leaf litter on El Yunque, Puerto Rico....
, a small spider species found in abundance in the Caribbean National Forest, is believed to be parthenogenetic, meaning that it reproduces without fertilization by a male.
Other terrestrial invertebrates described from Puerto Rico include earthworm
Earthworm
Earthworm is the common name for the largest members of Oligochaeta in the phylum Annelida. In classical systems they were placed in the order Opisthopora, on the basis of the male pores opening posterior to the female pores, even though the internal male segments are anterior to the female...
s and cave dwelling animals. Eighteen native species of earthworm have been described, with 11 species belonging to the Glossoscolecidae
Glossoscolecidae
Glossoscolecidae is a large family of earthworms which has native representatives in South and Central America. The species Pontoscolex corethrurus has a circumtropical distribution....
family, 3 to the Megascolecidae
Megascolecidae
Megascolecidae is a large family of earthworms which has native representatives in Australia, New Zealand, Southeast and East Asia, and North America. The most ancient lineages of the family show a Gondwanan distribution and have been used as evidence of continental drift. Members of the Pheretima...
family, and 4 to the Exxidae family. Seventy-eight invertebrate species are known to inhabit Puerto Rico's caves. Six of these species are restricted to the Antilles, 23 come from North America and 23 are endemic to Puerto Rico. Only two of the species are confirmed as troglobite
Troglobite
Troglobites are small cave-dwelling animals that have adapted to their dark surroundings. Troglobite species include spiders, insects, fish and others. They live permanently underground and cannot survive outside the cave environment. Troglobite adaptations and characteristics include a heightened...
s, or restricted to caves. Forty-five percent of the species are predators while the remaining 55% are guano scavengers, detrivores and herbivore
Herbivore
Herbivores are organisms that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in...
s. It is believed that most of this fauna arrived at Puerto Rico in the Pleistocene.
Sea sponge
Sponges are animals of the phylum Porifera . Their bodies consist of jelly-like mesohyl sandwiched between two thin layers of cells. While all animals have unspecialized cells that can transform into specialized cells, sponges are unique in having some specialized cells, but can also have...
, 171 cnidarians, 8 nemerteans, 1,176 mollusks, 129 annelid
Annelid
The annelids , formally called Annelida , are a large phylum of segmented worms, with over 17,000 modern species including ragworms, earthworms and leeches...
s (polychaetes), 342 crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s, 165 echinoderm
Echinoderm
Echinoderms are a phylum of marine animals. Echinoderms are found at every ocean depth, from the intertidal zone to the abyssal zone....
s, 131 bryozoans, 117 hard corals, 99 soft corals and gorgonians, 13 corallimorphs
Corallimorpharia
Corallimorpharia is an order of marine cnidarians closely related to the true sea anemones . They are mostly tropical, with a narrow column topped with a wide oral disc. The tentacles are usually short or very short, arranged in rows radiating from the mouth. Many species occur together in large...
, and 8 hydrocorals. Coral species found in Puerto Rican reefs are representative of the general Caribbean fauna. Commonly occurring corals include Boulder Star coral (Montrastaea annularis), Finger coral (Porites porites), and Elkhorn coral
Elkhorn coral
Elkhorn coral is considered to be one of the most important reef-building corals in the Caribbean. This species of coral is structurally complex with many large branches. The coral structure closely resembles that of elk antlers. These branches create habitats for many other reef species such as...
(Acropora palmata).
Invertebrate introductions have had an observable effect on Puerto Rican fauna. Native freshwater snails such as Physa cubensis have been adversely affected by introduced species. Currently, the most abundant freshwater snail in Puerto Rico is the Quilted Melania (Tarebia granifera
Tarebia granifera
Tarebia granifera, common name in the aquarium industry the quilted melania, is a species of freshwater snail with an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Thiaridae...
), an introduced species. Another invertebrate introduced to Puerto Rico is the honeybee. This animal competes with the endangered Puerto Rican Parrot for secondary nesting cavities at the Caribbean National Forest. Africanized bee
Africanized bee
Africanized honey bees, known colloquially as "killer bees", are a hybrid variety of the European honeybee , generated by a man-made breeding of the African honey bee, A. m. scutellata, with various European honey bees such as the Italian bee A. m. ligustica and A. m. iberiensis. These bees are far...
s, which pose an even greater threat for secondary cavity nesters, have recently extended their range to Puerto Rico. Other introductions include 18 species of ant
Ant
Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
, one of the most abundant taxa in leaf litter
Plant litter
Plant litter, leaf litter or tree litter is dead plant material, such as leaves, bark, needles, and twigs, that has fallen to the ground. Litter provides habitat for small animals, fungi, and plants, and the material may be used to construct nests. As litter decomposes, nutrients are released to...
habitats.
Human effect and conservation
The fauna of Puerto Rico has been subjected to human influence since the arrival of the OrtoiroidOrtoiroid people
The Ortoiroid people were the first human settlers of the Caribbean, who peaked culturally from 5000—200 BCE. They are believed to have originated in the Orinoco valley in South America, migrating to the Antilles from Trinidad and Tobago to Puerto Rico...
, Puerto Rico's first settler
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
s, approximately 4,000 years ago. The native fauna was used by the island's indigenous population as a source of food, while others were used for skins and trade. Significant declines in the populations and diversity of the islands fauna are believed to have begun after the arrival of European settlers in the sixteenth century. Habitat destruction, primarily as a result of forest clearing for sugar cane plantations, had a devastating effect on Puerto Rican fauna during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Furthermore, human-introduced species such as rats, cats, the Small Asian Mongoose, and the Cane Toad have had a profound effect on the native fauna of Puerto Rico. Rats on Monito Island are believed to be a limiting factor on the abundance of the endemic Monito Gecko
Monito Gecko
The Monito Gecko is a species of gecko endemic to the island of Monito, in the archipelago of Puerto Rico....
, feral cats on Mona Island have been documented attacking Common Ground Dove
Common Ground Dove
The Common Ground Dove is a small bird that inhabits the southern United States, parts of Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America. The Common Ground Dove is considered to be the smallest dove that inhabits the United States...
s and endemic reptiles, and have been associated with the reduction of Mona Ground Iguana juveniles, and mongooses have been documented predating on Puerto Rican Parrot fledgings.
Conservation efforts include both land and species protection. Approximately 8.95 km² (equal to 3.4% of total land area) divided among 34 reserves are protected in Puerto Rico. According to the IUCN there are 21 threatened species in Puerto Rico: 2 mammals, 8 breeding birds, 8 reptiles, and 3 amphibians. The U.S. federal government lists 5 mammals, 2 amphibians, 8 birds, and 10 reptiles under the Federal Endangered Species Act
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...
. The Puerto Rican government, through the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER), produces its own threatened species list which includes 18 critically endangered species (3 amphibians, 7 birds, 3 reptiles, 2 fish and 3 invertebrates), and 14 endangered species. The DNER follows the IUCN classification scheme for species' priority assignment.
The Puerto Rico Breeding Bird Survey (PRBBS), established in 1997, is a program with the purpose of monitoring the status and trends of Puerto Rican breeding bird populations. The information gathered by these surveys is used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to assess bird conservation priorities. Other conservation programs by the USFWS include the Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands Migratory Bird Conservation and the maintenance of 5 wildlife refuges at Cabo Rojo
Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico
Cabo Rojo is a municipality situated on the southwest coast of Puerto Rico and forms part of the San Germán–Cabo Rojo metropolitan area as well as the larger Mayagüez–San Germán–Cabo Rojo Combined Statistical Area....
, Laguna Cartagena, Vieques
Vieques, Puerto Rico
Vieques , in full Isla de Vieques, is an island–municipality of Puerto Rico in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands...
, Culebra
Culebra, Puerto Rico
Isla Culebra is an island-municipality of Puerto Rico originally called Isla Pasaje and Isla de San Ildefonso. It is located approximately east of the Puerto Rican mainland, west of St. Thomas and north of Vieques. Culebra is spread over 5 wards and Culebra Pueblo...
and Desecheo. Other institutions supporting bird conservation in Puerto Rico are the Puerto Rican Ornithological Society and the Puerto Rico National History Association.
Marine conservation
Marine conservation
Marine conservation, also known as marine resources conservation, is the protection and preservation of ecosystems in oceans and seas. Marine conservation focuses on limiting human-caused damage to marine ecosystems, and on restoring damaged marine ecosystems...
has recently garnered support in Puerto Rico. The archipelago has an estimated 700 miles (1,126.5 km) of coastline and 1,300 mi² (3,370 km²) of coral reef communities. The Department of Natural Resources of Puerto Rico maintains 25 areas with marine components but only two of these (11 km²) are designated as no-take zones. All turtle species occurring in Puerto Rico's waters are classified as either endangered or threatened. Earthwatch-supported turtle conservation programs and U.S. federal programs have raised local awareness and have contributed to the decline of egg-poaching and turtle meat consumption.