Malpelo is a small oceanic island in the eastern Pacific Ocean, located about 500 km (310 mi) west of the Colombian mainland with a military post manned by the Colombian Armed Forces . It consists of a sheer and barren rock with three high peaks, the highest being the 300 m (980 ft) Cerro de la Mona . The island is about 1.5 kilometres (1 mile) in length from northeast to southwest, and 640 metres (700 yards) across at its widest.
11-449: Malpelo may refer to: Malpelo Island off Colombia's Pacific coast Punta Malpelo , a point in Peru near the border with Ecuador. [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
22-416: A natural World Heritage Site because of its status as an important shark reserve. [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain : Malpelo, Cocos, and Easter Islands . Peace handbooks. London : H.M. Stationery Office, 1920. Johngarthia Johngarthia is a genus of crabs in the land crab family Gecarcinidae , formerly included in
33-456: A unique species of land crabs, Johngarthia malpilensis , first described in 1893. The island has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a breeding population of some 60,000–110,000 Nazca boobies , as estimated in 2007. Malpelo is home of a unique shark population; swarms of 500 hammerhead sharks and hundreds of silky sharks are frequently seen by diving expeditions, making it
44-531: A very popular shark-diving location. It is one of the few places where the smalltooth sand tiger has been seen alive; it is frequently spotted at the dive site "El bajo del Monstruo". Acanthemblemaria stephensi , the Malpelo barnacle blenny, is a species of chaenopsid blenny found in coral reefs around Malpelo. The largest no-fishing zone in the East Pacific, measuring over 850,000 hectares, surrounds
55-510: The Revillagigedo Islands , which were all uninhabited at the time of European discovery, and possibly throughout their entire history prior to that. The exact date of Malpelo's discovery is unclear, although it may have been the first of the remote eastern Pacific islands to have been discovered by Europeans, as it appears on Peruvian maps from as early as 1530. Malpelo became a possession of Spain following its discovery, and
66-476: The face of the main island is very steep. Soundings between 1,800 and 9,100 metres (1,000 and 5,000 fathoms) are obtainable within a few kilometres of the shore and the currents are strong and changeable. As an oceanic island, it has never been connected with any other islands or the mainland. Malpelo Island is composed of Miocene pillow lavas , volcanic breccias , and basaltic dikes that have been dated as being 16 to 17 million years old. This island and
77-400: The island. The Malpelo Nature Reserve , a plant and wildlife sanctuary, covering 857,500 ha (3,311 sq mi) centered at 04°0′12.038″N 81°36′27.259″W / 4.00334389°N 81.60757194°W / 4.00334389; -81.60757194 . A Colombian foundation is trying to preserve the biodiversity of the site. On July 12, 2006, Malpelo was declared by UNESCO as
88-417: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Malpelo&oldid=932977900 " Category : Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Malpelo Island Malpelo is the only island that rises above
99-575: The surface from the Malpelo Ridge, which is a solitary volcanic submarine ridge that extends in a northeast-southwest direction for 300 km (190 mi) and has a width of 100 km (62 mi). This island is surrounded by a number of offshore rocks. Off the northeast corner are the Tres Mosqueteros . Off the southwest corner are Salomón , Saúl , La Gringa , and Escuba . All the rocks are surrounded by deep water, and most of
110-668: The underlying and underwater Malpelo Ridge were created along with the Carnegie Ridge in the Late Miocene by a very complex interaction between the Cocos - Nazca Spreading Centre and the Galápagos hotspot . Malpelo Island was presumably isolated from human contact prior to European discovery. It is uninhabited, and is located in the same area as other oceanic eastern Pacific islands, such as Cocos Island , Galápagos and
121-413: Was subsequently annexed by Peru, and later Colombia. At first glance, the island seems to be barren rock, devoid of all vegetation, but deposits of bird guano have helped colonies of algae , lichens , mosses , and some shrubs and ferns establish, all of which glean nutrients from the guano. Lizards are the only non-avian vertebrates on the island, with three species total. It is also home to
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