Location: Bahía state Map
Area: 50 km²
The Abrolhos National Marine Park is a national park in Brazil
that is located on the south coast of the state of Bahia, in the
Abrolhos archipelago, between the geographic coordinates 17º25' to
18º09' S and 38º33' to 39º05' W. park in Brazil to receive the title
of "National Marine Park", through Decree No. 88,218, of April 6,
1983. It is managed by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity
Conservation (ICMBio). The park is of vital importance in the
Brazilian ecosystem, as it is home to the greatest marine
biodiversity in the entire South Atlantic Ocean.
In this
region, the famous season of humpback whales takes place, which
choose the warm waters of the Bahian sea to reproduce and breastfeed
their young, and provide the practice of whale watching or whale
watching tourism, being an important tourist destination of the type
in the world. It is considered the largest reproductive nursery of
the species in the entire Western South Atlantic. A small number of
southern right whales have also started to return to Abrolhos after
many years of danger.
Wildlife
The Abrolhos archipelago is home to nearly 95 species of
fish including carangidae, acanthuridae or pomacanthidae; seabirds such
as the masked booby (Sula dactylatra) or the brown booby (Sula
leucogaster); sea turtles such as loggerhead turtles (Caretta
caretta), green turtles (Chelonia mydas), hawksbill turtles
(Eretmochelys imbricata); molluscs. At the end of each year, a large
number of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) from the Southern
Ocean migrate to the Abrolhos, in order to procreate and nurse their
young far from their predators.
The archipelago has large coral
reefs, some of which are over twenty meters high, such as the Chapeiroes
da Sueste reef. There are 17 species of coral out of the 18 listed in
Brazil, including the endemic species Mussismilia braziliensis,
Mussismilia hispida, Mussismilia hartti, Siderastrea stellata, Favia
gravida and Favia leptophylla. Polyp-type cnidarians are the most
represented.