{"id":71,"date":"2026-10-21T00:10:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T00:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mirandaboen.webhostingforstudents.com\/cis1410\/midterm\/?p=71"},"modified":"2026-10-21T00:10:06","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T00:10:06","slug":"marine-iguana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mirandaboen.webhostingforstudents.com\/cis1410\/midterm\/marine-iguana\/","title":{"rendered":"Marine Iguana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em><strong>Amblyrhynchus cristatus<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-context=\"{&quot;tabsId&quot;:&quot;tabs_1&quot;,&quot;activeTabIndex&quot;:0}\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.onTabsInit\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/tabs\" data-wp-on--keydown=\"actions.handleTabKeyDown\" class=\"wp-block-tabs is-layout-flow wp-block-tabs-is-layout-flow\">\n<div aria-label=\"Tabbed content\" role=\"tablist\" class=\"wp-block-tab-list is-layout-flex wp-block-tab-list-is-layout-flex\"><button aria-controls=\"tabs_1-tab-0\" data-wp-bind--aria-selected=\"state.isActiveTab\" data-wp-bind--tabindex=\"state.tabIndexAttribute\" data-wp-context=\"{&quot;tabIndex&quot;:0}\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.handleTabClick\" data-wp-on--keydown=\"actions.handleTabKeyDown\" id=\"tab__tabs_1-tab-0\" class=\"has-foreground-color has-tertiary-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color has-border-color has-foreground-border-color\" style=\"border-width:3px\" type=\"button\" role=\"tab\">Classification<\/button><button aria-controls=\"tabs_1-tab-1\" data-wp-bind--aria-selected=\"state.isActiveTab\" data-wp-bind--tabindex=\"state.tabIndexAttribute\" data-wp-context=\"{&quot;tabIndex&quot;:1}\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.handleTabClick\" data-wp-on--keydown=\"actions.handleTabKeyDown\" id=\"tab__tabs_1-tab-1\" class=\"has-foreground-color has-tertiary-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color has-border-color has-foreground-border-color\" style=\"border-width:3px\" type=\"button\" role=\"tab\">Habitat<\/button><button aria-controls=\"tabs_1-tab-2\" data-wp-bind--aria-selected=\"state.isActiveTab\" data-wp-bind--tabindex=\"state.tabIndexAttribute\" data-wp-context=\"{&quot;tabIndex&quot;:2}\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.handleTabClick\" data-wp-on--keydown=\"actions.handleTabKeyDown\" id=\"tab__tabs_1-tab-2\" class=\"has-foreground-color has-tertiary-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color has-border-color has-foreground-border-color\" style=\"border-width:3px\" type=\"button\" role=\"tab\">Conservation Status<\/button><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-tab-panels\">\n<section hidden aria-labelledby=\"tab__tabs_1-tab-0\" data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.isActiveTab\" id=\"tabs_1-tab-0\" role=\"tabpanel\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"wp-block-tab-panel is-layout-flow wp-block-tab-panel-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td>Kingdom:<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Animal\">Animalia<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Phylum:<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chordate\">Chordata<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Class:<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Reptile\">Reptilia<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Order:<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Squamata\">Squamata<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Suborder:<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Iguania\">Iguania<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Family:<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Iguanidae\">Iguanidae<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Genus:<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Marine_iguana\"><em>Amblyrhynchus<\/em><\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<section hidden aria-labelledby=\"tab__tabs_1-tab-1\" data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.isActiveTab\" id=\"tabs_1-tab-1\" role=\"tabpanel\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"wp-block-tab-panel is-layout-flow wp-block-tab-panel-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Primarily rocky seaside shores, but they have also been seen around mangrove swamps, beaches, and marshes. However, finding them is only possible in the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<section hidden aria-labelledby=\"tab__tabs_1-tab-2\" data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.isActiveTab\" id=\"tabs_1-tab-2\" role=\"tabpanel\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"wp-block-tab-panel is-layout-flow wp-block-tab-panel-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The marine iguana&#8217;s relatively small range makes them susceptible to population threats. Some island populations are given an alternative status of Endangered, which is a more serious label. Human-introduced predators (pigs, dogs, cats, rats), for which they have no natural protection, are one of the largest threats.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Neat Stuff<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The marine iguana is special among modern-day lizards for their almost-exclusive algae diet, which leads to their existence in marine environments. While some subspecies (divided by island; there is little overlap) can make do with other food sources for a limited time, their digestive system is specialized for certain types of algae.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In order to reach their preferred food, young and smaller marine iguanas will wait for low tide. However, those with the strength to do so (primarily males, which are larger) willingly dive for algae. They can dive as deep as 98 feet and stay underwater for up to an hour. Most dives aren&#8217;t that extensive, however. They are slow swimmers, which is part of the reason why marine iguanas on different islands have developed into distinct subspecies &#8212; they are rarely intermingling as it is difficult to swim between islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marine iguanas have mutualistic relationships with several other species. On land, birds like Darwin&#8217;s finches and mockingbirds, as well as crabs, often feed on the mites and ticks that are picked off of iguanas&#8217; skin. Underwater, cleaner fish like Pacific sergeant majors will pick off molting skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As reptiles, marine iguanas are of course cold-blooded. However, they feed on algae that exist in cold waters. To mitigate the sluggishness that comes of spending time in cold water, marine iguanas have several behaviors designed for thermoregulation. For instance, to conserve heat during the night, they gather in large huddled groups to sleep. They also spend a significant amount of time post-feeding basking in the sun to warm back up. While they are vulnerable during this time, they use aggressive biting and bluff displays to deter potential threats while they are unable to move much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Marine_iguana\">To read more, check out Wikipedia.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amblyrhynchus cristatus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,17],"tags":[16,23,14],"class_list":["post-71","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reptiles","category-vertebrates","tag-lizards","tag-marine-iguana","tag-reptiles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mirandaboen.webhostingforstudents.com\/cis1410\/midterm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mirandaboen.webhostingforstudents.com\/cis1410\/midterm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mirandaboen.webhostingforstudents.com\/cis1410\/midterm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mirandaboen.webhostingforstudents.com\/cis1410\/midterm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mirandaboen.webhostingforstudents.com\/cis1410\/midterm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mirandaboen.webhostingforstudents.com\/cis1410\/midterm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73,"href":"https:\/\/mirandaboen.webhostingforstudents.com\/cis1410\/midterm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions\/73"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mirandaboen.webhostingforstudents.com\/cis1410\/midterm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mirandaboen.webhostingforstudents.com\/cis1410\/midterm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mirandaboen.webhostingforstudents.com\/cis1410\/midterm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mirandaboen.webhostingforstudents.com\/cis1410\/midterm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}