Little heads in front of the big heads. These iguanas are just a few months old, camouflaging and warming up among full-grown iguanas, on the shores of Fernandina Island. These are the marine iguanas of the Galapagos, Amblyrinchus subcristatus. They dive, they swim and then they warm up on the black lava, as black as their bodies.
Tuesday morning was really exciting. We spotted a male and a female Orca in the middle of a feeding frenzy of frigates, Audubon shearwaters and storm petrels. Mola mola fish came to our regular Tuesday appointment in Punta Vicente Roca.
But the reptiles have been the highlight of the week. We saw a Galapagos snake, lots of lava lizards, and these young iguanas in the afternoon. And overall, we had a great lecture about Galapagos giant tortoises. Tom Fritts, a herpetologist who has spent more than 25 years studying Galapagos reptiles, is onboard the Polaris this week.
We learned about his research on giant tortoises. He was the one who found Dieguito, the male tortoise from Espanola Island, in the San Diego Zoo.
We learned about lizard's vertebrae, pink land iguanas found only around Wolf volcano, a recent research in Pinta to look for a mate for Lonesome George. It is great to have scientist visiting us onboard the Polaris, and for sure it is nice to have Tom and Pat Fritts back on the ship to share their knowledge with us.
