The discovery of new mollusk species in the ocean floor of the
Guanahacabibes peninsula puts this region, located 200 miles west of
Havana, in a leader position as to biodiversity. Its mollusk inventory
currently at 630 species, the most complete in Cuba and presumably of
the Caribbean, was extended with 27 new samples seen recently during an
expedition in the area...

Declared by UNESCO Reserve of the Biosphere, the zone has some 150 sites
of interest to science and has a rich animal and plant life with a
highlighted presence of vertebrates and invertebrates.

Some 126 bird species (37 per cent of all those reported in the country)
four reptiles and the presence of four out of six families of mammals
reported in Cuba, make up the register of the peninsula that also is
abundant in ocean floor resources.

Its ecosystems are object today of an integral sample study
comprehending nine localities, among them Maria la Gorda, Las Tumbas,
Cape of San Antonio, Point Palmajes and Bolondron Cove.

Handling and preservation characteristics stimulated Cuban and foreign
scients to begin a project in that site, whose essential purpose is to
make a species and endemics inventory.

Jose Espinosa, researcher of the Cuban Institute of Oceanology, assured
Prensa Latina that his organization is interested in conforming a
geographic information system that registers the rich marine ecosystem.

Since 2004, the zone is part of a general study covering both the
surface waters as areas up to 120 feet deep, he added. The
investigation, according to the source, will continue until 2009 with
the support of the Spanish University of Oviedo, the government of
Cantabria and the Office for the Integral Development of Guanhacabibes.

A few days ago, results of the eighth expedition conducted in this Cuban
region were made known as part of the joint project which aims to
include other National Parks.

The search resulted in the sighting of 27 new types of mollusks, among
them gasteropods (snails), bivalves (shells), sea cockroaches, scaphoids
(elephant tusks) and cephalopods (octopus).

They are specimens of small and middle size, with direct development in
its embryology and presumed to be endemic, which according to experts,
are very rare to find in the marine depths.

The first references of the species in Cuba date back to the 19th
Century, when US researchers studied ocean floors, detecting 35
evidences, 18 of which are located in the Guanahacabibes peninsula.

Located in the extreme Cubans define as the "Cayman´s Tail", the zone
highlights for having the greatest forest and biospeleological reserves
of the biggest island of the Antilles.

Source: Prensa Latina

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