Atol das Rocas Biological Reserve ( pt, Reserva Biológica do Atol das Rocas) is a biological reserve in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The reserve is located on the

Rocas Atoll The Rocas Atoll ( pt, Atol das Rocas ) is the only atoll in the South Atlantic Ocean. It belongs to the Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Norte. It is located approximately northeast of Natal and west of the Fernando de Noronha archipelago. The ...

, an atoll 144 miles north east of the Brazilian coast. It was created in 1979 to protect nesting sea turtles and migratory seabirds.

Location

The

is north east from the coast of

Natal, Rio Grande do Norte Natal ( ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, located in northeastern Brazil. According to IBGE's 2021 estimate, the city had a total population o896,708 making it the 19th largest city in the country. Natal is a ...

in north east Brazil, and is the only atoll in the South-western Atlantic. The

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

atoll is built on the upper, western part of the flat top of a volcanic

seamount A seamount is a large geologic landform that rises from the ocean floor that does not reach to the water's surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise abru ...

on the north east part of the Brazilian continental margin. The seamount rises to a depth of below the surface. The distance from the reef to the edge of the top of the seamount is about to the west, to the north west and to the east. The sediment in the lagoon and surrounding the atoll is mostly coarse sand, much of which originates from the corals and

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

shells. The reef has the shape of an ellipse with its axis running east–west, and is about . There are two small islands inside the lagoon. Ilha do Farol (Lighthouse Island) covers and Ilha do Cemitério (Cemetery Island) covers . The highest point is above sea level. The reserve covers . It was created on 5 June 1979 and is administered by the

Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (Portuguese: ''Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade'', ICMBio) is the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment's administrative arm."Brazilian Federal Law 11.516/2007 (Por ...

Environment

Rainfall is annually. Air temperatures vary from , with an average of . Water temperature is very stable at . The islands are remote and have not been affected much by human activity. An estimated 143,000 birds use the atoll, mainly

masked booby The masked booby (''Sula dactylatra''), also called the masked gannet or the blue-faced booby, is a large seabird of the booby and gannet family, Sulidae. First described by the French naturalist René-Primevère Lesson in 1831, the masked bo ...

(Sula dactylatra),

brown booby The brown booby (''Sula leucogaster'') is a large seabird of the booby family Sulidae, of which it is perhaps the most common and widespread species. It has a pantropical range, which overlaps with that of other booby species. The gregarious brow ...

(Sula leucogaster),

brown noddy The brown noddy or common noddy (''Anous stolidus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. The largest of the noddies, it can be told from the closely related black noddy by its larger size and plumage, which is dark brown rather than black. The b ...

(Anous stolidus),

black noddy The black noddy or white-capped noddy (''Anous minutus'') is a seabird from the family Laridae. It is a medium-sized species of tern with black plumage and a white cap. It closely resembles the lesser noddy (''Anous tenuirostris'') with which it w ...

(Anous minutus) and

sooty tern The sooty tern (''Onychoprion fuscatus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans, returning to land only to breed on islands throughout the equatorial zone. Taxonomy The sooty tern was described by Carl Linnaeu ...

(Onychoprion fuscatus).

Conservation

The Biological Reserve is a "strict nature reserve" under

IUCN protected area category IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is part ...

Ia. The objectives are full preservation of biota and other natural attributes without direct human interference or environmental changes, except for recovery of altered ecosystems and actions needed to restore and preserve the natural balance, biological diversity and natural ecological processes. Protected species include the

loggerhead sea turtle The loggerhead sea turtle (''Caretta caretta'') is a species of oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around in carapace length when fully ...

(Caretta caretta),

hawksbill sea turtle The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution, that is largel ...

(Eretmochelys imbricata),

green sea turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exten ...

(Chelonia mydas),

red-billed tropicbird The red-billed tropicbird (''Phaethon aethereus'') is a tropicbird, one of three closely related species of seabird of tropical oceans. Superficially resembling a tern in appearance, it has mostly white plumage with some black markings on the wi ...

(Phaethon aethereus),

white-tailed tropicbird The white-tailed tropicbird (''Phaethon lepturus'') is a tropicbird. It is the smallest of three closely related seabirds of the tropical oceans and smallest member of the order Phaethontiformes. It is found in the tropical Atlantic, western Paci ...

(Phaethon lepturus), the crabs Johngarthia lagostoma and

Percnon gibbesi ''Percnon gibbesi'' is a species of crab. It is one of at least two species commonly called "Sally Lightfoot" (the other being the semi-terrestrial ''Grapsus grapsus'' from the Pacific coast of the Americas), and is also referred to as the ''nim ...

, the

starfish Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to as brittle stars or basket stars. Starfish ...

Echinaster (Othilia) guyanensis,

lemon shark The lemon shark (''Negaprion brevirostris'') is a species of shark from the family Carcharhinidae and is classified as a Vulnerable species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Lemon sharks can grow to in length. They are o ...

(Negaprion brevirostris), sea ginger ( Millepora alcicornis) and the coral Phyllogorgia dilatata. The reserve has been nominated as a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

References

Sources

* * * * {{Biological reserve (Brazil) Biological reserves of Brazil Protected areas established in 1979 Protected areas of Rio Grande do Norte 1979 establishments in Brazil Ramsar sites in Brazil