Three new animal species discovered
News from Cuba | Monday, 3 January 2011
Three new animal species were reported for the first time in the Cuban Jardines de la Reina (Queen’s Gardens) National Park, and archipelago located south of the main island.
The Jardines de la Reina is the largest marine national park; it extends over 2,170 square kilometers, in whose preservation a UN organization collaborates, and its natural conditions are the best preserved in Cuba.
The new findings are of a fresh water fish Gambusia puncticulata and two kinds of insects, Tanypus neopunctipennis and Chironomus decorus.
In statements to ACN news agency MSc Leandro Bombino, leader of one of the research teams in the area, said the discoveries were made as part of a series of random searches aimed at strengthening the protection and sustainable economic exploitation of the park, which is made up of 661 keys and where fishing and tourism are the main source of income.
He said that the UN Development Programme (UNDP) works in this area through a program named GEF to preserve the biodiversity in the archipelago. Among this year’s task are to present a proposal to include it in the comprehensive coastal management regime.
This area received its name from Christopher Columbus and registers the largest fish density in Cuba as well as being the place of spawning for four sea turtle species.
