X Monte Cristo Sealife 

The sealife of the Republic of Monte Cristo is so rich, prestine and prolific as to warrent a textbook. We have only a few lines and images. Monte Cristo is part of the Tuscan Archipelago, the largest Marine Park and undersea protected region in Europe, as well as the richest in the diversity of marine biology and inhabitant species. Even though Monte Cristo is off limits to divers anyone can share in the richness of its sealife by visiting the great aquarium, Acquario dell'Elba, near Portoferraio, or visit thier website; www.acquarioelba.com.

Climactic and geological events, led by volcanoes, have led to the existence of rare and endemic animal and vegetation species on the land and sea of Monte Cristo, providing important territory for the refuge of endangered flora and fauna and forming a connection between the Corsican-Sardinian ecosytem with mainland Italy. Monte Cristo is a vital point of passage for fauna in the entire Meditteranean basin and is a resting spot and nesting ground for migrating birds, such as the Corsican seagull, as well as undersea travellers. Man only arrived along our shores 700,000 years ago!

In our tidal waters are sea limpets, barnacles and sea anemone in such numbers as to evidence the freedom from pollution of our waters. The rocks are covered with Neptune's shaving brush, a seaweed found no where else called penicillus capitatus, living side by side with our green umbrella shaped seaweed acetabularia acetabulum and fanshaped padina pavonica.

The sandy seabed is covered with a dense undersea forest, praries of posidonia oceanica, the true life blood of our ecosystem.  Among its ribbon shaped tufts live fish such as the salpas and bogues, and the giant bivalvular fan mussel pinna nobilis. Most popular is our little sea horse, the hippocampus hippocampus, who is immortalised on our Coast Guard flag.

In huge populations also reside nearby sea urchins, paracentrotus lividus, starfish, echinaster sepositus, molluscs, octupus vulgaris, sea ears haliotis lamellosa, along with multi colored annalids such as fan worm sabella spallnzani. Near the rocks one can see cormorants phalacrocorax carbo and sea crows the shag p-aristotelis.

Our most prized feature to many oceanographers is our large square miles of endangered corals, yellow, blue and very rare red, corallium rubrum. Walls are covered with seaweed and prized sponges and sea fans. In vast numbers, residing in holes and clefts are lobsters, such as palinurus elephas.

Some of the fish species one is quite likely to encounter in unprescedented numbers might include; common rainbow wrasse coris julis, Turkish wrasse thalassoma pavo, two banded bream diplodus vulgaris, damsen chromis chromis, painted comber serranus scriba, red mullet mullus surmulettus, moray muraena helena, brown grouper epinephelus marginatus, bass dicentrarchus labrax, sunfish mola mola, swordfish xiphias gladius and tuna, such as the thunnus thynnus.

Most popular are some of the marine mammals, such as the dolphins delphinus delphis, bottle nosed tursiops truncatus and in the Spring or Fall in great numbers come the sperm whales, physeter macrocephalus. Our most prized resident on Monte Cristo, is a fellow fit for the refuge that offered safe haven to Saint Mamiliano and his Sicilian followers 1500 years ago, the happy little monk seal, monacus monachus, who lives in the deep ravines on our island, as secure from predators, man and beast, as the Saint was from the Vandals.

Because of the lack of beaches on Monte Cristo, the sea turtle caretta uses the white sand on neighbor island Pianosa to reproduce. Otherwise, we beieve that if writer/adventurer Alexandre  Dumas returned today he would notice little change in the island he loved!

Even if we can find evidence of man's presence on occasion, our park is still undoubtedly the greatest national treasure in all Europe, faithfully protected by our friends in the Italian Government.