Jacques Cousteau called the Sea of Cortés the “the aquarium
of the world” (link), and you know it has to be a helluva big tank to hold 6,000 animal species – 4,854
invertebrates, 891 fishes, 181 birds, 36 mammals and seven reptiles (Brusca et
al. 2005). We could discuss the “health” of the Sea of Cortés – the lack of freshwater
flow and nutrients from the Colorado River; habitat destruction and bycatch by commercial
shrimping; overfishing of sharks and groupers; over-harvesting of pearl oysters,
sea turtles and whales; population crashes of the totuava (link) and vaquita (the world’s smallest and most endangered cetacean) and
more (link, link).
Maybe when I feel sufficiently misanthropic about the future of the “world’s
aquarium,” I’ll depress you with some of those stories. For now I’d like to
celebrate the remaining diversity in a diminishing sea.
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| Ron photographing humpback whale (Isla Danzante on the right) |
