Isla del Coco Fishes

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The Book

Isla del Coco Fishes, written by coral reef ecologist Ginger Garrison, was first published in 2000 and the revised, expanded second edition was published in August 2005. The book provides a synthesis of scientific information about the remote Isla del Coco National Park (Costa Rica). Written in Spanish and English, descriptions and color photographs of 150 of the more than 280 fish species known from Isla del Coco are arranged in phylogenetic order. Many of the species are new records for the island and/or the eastern tropical Pacific.

The book is currently being updated for a third edition.

Descriptions of fish species include:

• the scientific name and common names in Spanish and English;
• the diagnostic characteristics for distinguishing one species from another in the field;
• size range;
• habitats where the species occurs, what it eats, notes on reproduction and sex, and interesting behavior;
• abundance of the species at Cocos and sites around the island where the species has been observed;
• geographical distribution;
• similar species and how to distinguish between them;
• other common names and scientific synonyms.

• complete fish species list for the island's waters;
• species lists for coral, birds, marine and terrestrial mammals, and reptiles;
• graphics of the ocean floor, oceanic currents and a map of the island;
• an introduction to the island's natural history;
• a brief human history of the island.

Isla del Coco, Costa Rica

Isla del Coco is Costa Rica's most isolated national park and one of the most beautiful. The island was designated a national park in 1978 and has been home to resident park wardens since 1992. On 6 December 1997, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared Isla del Coco a World Natural Heritage Site. In 1998, Cocos was designated a wetlands of international importance, one of a select number of sites on the Ramsar list. The seaward boundary of the marine national park was extended to 22.2 km (12 nm) from the Isla del Coco shoreline in 2001. In 2003, the United Nations Foundation and the UNESCO World Heritage Center launched the Marine Conservation Corridor of the Tropical Eastern Pacific, a 211 million hectare area that encompasses the marine protected areas of Cocos (Costa Rica), Gorgona and Malpelo (Colombia), Coiba (Panamá) and the Galápagos (Ecuador) islands, and the oceanic waters that link them.

Country: Costa Rica
Location: 5°29'57" - 5°33'20" North latitude; 87°01'41" - 87°05'39" West longitude
Area (island): 24 km² (9.3 mi²)
Area (marine): 1,997 km²
Highest elevation: Cerro Yglesias, 634 m
Maximum variation between high and low tides: 4 m
Average rainfall: 7 m (>275 in per year)
Average air temperature: 25.5°C (77.9°F)
Average surface seawater temperature: 27.75°C (82°F)
more than 280 species of fishes, 24 known endemic
33 species coral, 19 species zooxanthellate coral
0 native mammals, 6 species introduced
9 marine mammal species
111 species of birds, 3 endemic
4 turtle species, 1 sea snake species, 2 endemic species of terrestrial reptiles
over 800 species of insects estimated, at least 58 endemic
262 plant species, 37 endemic and 71 introduced species

Related Internet Resources

Friends of Isla del Coco National Park Foundation - Friends of Isla del Coco National Park

Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad - Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (Costa Rica) Publisher

Parque Nacional Isla del Coco - Sistema Nacional de Areas de Conservación de Costa Rica

About Isla del Coco Fishes - USGS Florida Integrated Science Center - Center for Aquatic Resource Studies