ISS015-E-7771 Click the photo number to access all resolutions available and the database record.
The plants and animals of Isla Blanquilla are an interesting mixture of arid (cacti, iguanas) and introduced species (wild donkeys and goats), but it is particularly notable for the presence of black coral. Black coral is something of a misnomer, as it refers to the skeleton of the coral rather than the living organism, which is usually brightly colored. Black corals around the world are harvested for use in jewelry and other craftwork, so much so that the species has been listed for protection under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
The island is the southernmost above-water exposure of the Aves Ridge, a seafloor topography feature of the southernmost Caribbean Sea. The island’s basement rock (the oldest rocks in an area) is visible in the western (bottom) third of the island. These granite rocks date back to the last part of the Mesozoic Era (the Cretaceous Period, 146-65 million years ago) and the first part of the Cenozoic Era (the Paleocene Epoch, 65-54.8 million years ago). The remainder of the island consists of three limestone terraces deposited on the older basement rock. The terraces get younger from west to east (bottom to top) across the island. The terraces record fluctuating sea levels during the Pleistocene Epoch (the Ice Age, 1.8 to about 10,000 years ago). The changes in sea level on the island may have been due to glacial advances and retreats during the Ice Age, or tectonic uplift of the island, or a combination of both processes.
References
Schubert, C.
(1977). Pleistocene marine terraces of La Blanquilla Island,
Venezuela, and their diagenesis. In D. L. Taylor, Ed., Proceedings of
the Third International Coral Reef Symposium (pp.149–154). Miami:
University of Miami. University of California Museum of
Paleontology. Tour of Geologic Time. Accessed November 21,
2007.
