Country Information - Desventuradas Islands

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Biodiversity in Desventuradas Islands (DES)

	FishBase		Complete	Literature		Reference
	Species	Families	Complete	Species	Families	Reference
Marine	7	7	No
Freshwater			No
Total	7	7	No

Conservation	43 marine coastal species, only 2 endemics (4.6%): Chromis meridiana and Paratrimma urospila; 4 recent new records (1997 publ. in 2010): Scorpaenodes englerti, Maxillicosta reticulata, Suezichthys sp., and Aseraggodes bahamondei. The Desventuradas have had only three proper fishcollecting expeditions involving ichthyologists: the Anton Bruun cruises 12 (Wisner 1966) and 13 (Cornell Collection), and Pequeño & Lamilla (2000). Wisner (1966:4) originally estimated a total of 27 fish species collected, though this number has actually increased to 31 species according to the holdings at Scripps Institute of Oceanography (SIO) (Pequeño & Lamilla 2000). Pequeño & Lamilla (2000) latest count of coastal fishes was 43 species, of which three are endemic to the Desventuradas Islands and 28 (65%) are found also in Juan Fernández.
Geography and Climate
Hydrography	The oceanographic regime of these islands is also of biogeographic interest. Both island groups are located between the coastal and oceanic branches of the subantarctic Perú or Humboldt Current which is split by the subtropical Peruvian countercurrent. The surface temperatures are not subantarctic however because the sub-surface Peruvian countercurrent extends farther south than Juan Fernández and warms the surface waters notably between spring and autumn (Arana 1987). This Peruvian countercurrent is a possible migration route between these islands, either by adults or during a pelagic larval phase.