Caja de Muertos Nature Reserve (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

: ''Reserva Natural Isla de Caja de Muertos'') is a nature reserve in southern

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

consisting of the islands of

Caja de Muertos Caja de Muertos (; also in English: ''Coffin Island'') is an uninhabited island off the southern coast of Puerto Rico, in the municipality of Ponce. The island and its surrounding waters are protected by the Caja de Muertos Nature Reserve, beca ...

, Cayo Morrillito, Cayo Berbería, and their surrounding reefs and waters in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

. This nature reserve was founded on January 2, 1980, by the

Puerto Rico Planning Board The Puerto Rico Planning Board ( es, Junta de Planificación) created in the May 12, 1942 during Rexford G. Tugwell's governorship as the Puerto Rico Planning, Urbanization, and Zoning Board, is the only government agency in charge of centralize ...

(''Junta de Planificación'') as recommended by the

Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources The Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (PRDNER) is the executive department of the government of Puerto Rico tasked with protecting, conserving, developing, and managing the natural and environmental resources in Puert ...

(''Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales de Puerto Rico'', DRNA) with the purpose of preserving the

subtropical dry forest The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...

ecosystems found within these islands, some important

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, ...

nesting sites, and the marine habitats found on their surrounding reefs and waters.

History

The name ''Caja de Muertos'' (coffin) literally translates "dead man's chest" from Spanish. The name most likely comes from the original French name for the island, ''Coffre à Mort'', first given by 18th century French writer and explorer Jean Baptist Labat due to the island's shape. Although the island was never permanently populated, throughout its history it has served as a

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

hideout, a place for clandestine meetings for the island's

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

during the Spanish Catholic rule, and for secret gatherings of

Puerto Rico independence movement Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places *El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines *Puerto Colombia, Colombia *Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela *Puerto Galera, Orient ...

leaders such as

Ramón Emeterio Betances Ramón Emeterio Betances y Alacán (April 8, 1827 – September 16, 1898) was a Puerto Rican independence advocate and medical doctor. He was the primary instigator of the Grito de Lares revolution and is considered to be the father of the Puer ...

and

Segundo Ruiz Belvis Segundo Ruiz Belvis (13 May 1829 – 3 November 1867) was a Puerto Rican abolitionist who also fought for Puerto Rico's right to independence. Early years Ruiz Belvis was born in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico (then a barrio of the municipality o ...

. Additionally, the presence of

petroglyphs A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

is evidence of the former presence of the

Taíno The Taíno were a historic Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, indigenous people of the Caribbean whose culture has been continued today by Taíno descendant communities and Taíno revivalist communities. At the time of European contact in the ...

people on the island. The other surrounding islands and keys show no evidence of historical human activity or population. The Spanish built a lighthouse on the island in 1883, which was updated and automated in 1945. The island had no more human activity until the later part of the 20th century when some infrastructure, such as restrooms, gazebos and other buildings were built for visitors. The area was not formally protected until January 2 of 1980 when a proposal by the

(DRNA) to establish the island and surrounding keys as a nature reserve was approved by the

. The island today is of ecological importance due to its preserved subtropical tropical dry forest; in addition to the

Guánica State Forest The Guánica State Forest ( es, Bosque Estatal de Guánica), popularly known as the Guánica Dry Forest (Spanish: ''Bosque seco de Guánica'') is a subtropical dry forest located in southwest Puerto Rico. The area was designated as a forest reser ...

this is one of the last tracts of its type in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.

Geography

The nature reserve covers a land area of approximately 400 acres (412 ''cuerdas'') and it includes the following islands and keys connected by shallow water banks: *

, with an area of 0.59 sq mi (1.54 km²), is the largest island in the nature reserve. It is part of the

Playa Playa (plural playas) may refer to: Landforms * Endorheic basin, also known as a sink, alkali flat or sabkha, a desert basin with no outlet which periodically fills with water to form a temporary lake * Dry lake, often called a ''playa'' in the so ...

''barrio'' of the municipality of Ponce. The island of Caja de Muertos is the main geographical feature of the reserve; it is located 4.8 nautical miles south of the coast of Puerto Rico. *

Morrillito Morrillito is a small uninhabited island off the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The island is protected by the ''Reserva Natural Caja de Muertos'' natural reserve because of its native turtle traffic. Together with Caja de Muertos, Gatas, Raton ...

, with an area of 0.015 sq mi (0.04 km²), is a very small and rocky key located adjacent to Caja de Muertos. It is also part of the Playa ''barrio'' of the municipality of Ponce. * Cayo Berbería (also known as ''Cayo de la Berbería'' and ''Cayo de Bizarreta'') is a small key covered in

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in several ...

and surrounded by

coral reefs A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of Colony (biology), colonies of coral polyp (zoology), polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, wh ...

that is part of the ''barrio'' Río Cañas Abajo of the municipality of

Juana Díaz Juana is a Spanish female first name. It is the feminine form of Juan (English John), and thus corresponds to the English names Jane, Janet, Jean, Joan, and Joanna. Juanita is a common variant. The name Juana may refer to: People *Juana I (14 ...

. The islands belonging to the Caja de Muertos Nature Reserve are part of a larger archipelago that extends off Puerto Rico's Caribbean coast from east to west. Some of these other southern islands include Cayo Cabezazos, Cayo Caracoles, Cayo Alfeñique, the Cayos Ratones and the Cayos Pájaros. Most of these keys are protected as part of the

Punta Petrona Nature Reserve Punta is an Afro-indigenous dance and cultural music originating in the Caribbean Island of Saint Vincent And The Grenadines by the Garifuna people before being exiled from the island. Which is also known as Yurumei. It has African and Arawak ...

of Santa Isabel and the Jobos Bay Reserve of Salinas and

Guayama Guayama (, ), officially the Autonomous Municipality of Guayama ( es, Municipio Autónomo de Guayama) is a city and municipality on the Caribbean coast of Puerto Rico. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 36,614. It is the c ...

. The highest point in both Caja de Muertos and the nature reserve is the 240 feet (73 m) high unnamed hill where the

Caja de Muertos Lighthouse Caja (meaning "box" in Spanish) can refer to: * ''Caja'' or ''caixa'', a Spanish savings bank similar to a credit union * Caja project, a former Google project for reducing security risks in HTML, CSS and JavaScript * Caja del Rio, a mesa in New M ...

is located. The island's geography also includes rocky cliffs, caves, a flat plateau that is home to an extensive tropical dry forest, a lagoon with mangroves, and a small

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the so ...

(''morro'') located on the southwestern-most point of the island, across from the small key of

(Spanish for "small promontory").

Ecology

The ecological diversity of the Caja de Muertos Nature Reserve includes mangrove forests, sandy shores important for

nesting, rocky coasts and cliffs which are important bird areas, caves and

xerophytic A xerophyte (from Greek ξηρός ''xeros'' 'dry' + φυτόν ''phuton'' 'plant') is a species of plant that has adaptations to survive in an environment with little liquid water, such as a desert such as the Sahara or places in the Alps or th ...

(dry and thorny) forests. Due to the close proximity of Caja de Muertos and Berbería to land, most of the local species originate in the main island of Puerto Rico.

Fauna

This nature reserve serves as a shelter, nesting and feeding place for a number of species of birds and marine animals, in addition to many migratory and introduced species. Some notable bird species of the reserve includes

brown pelicans The brown pelican (''Pelecanus occidentalis'') is a bird of the pelican family, Pelecanidae, one of three species found in the Americas and one of two that feed by diving into water. It is found on the Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to the mou ...

brown boobies 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 ...

ospreys The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

, roseate terns, least terns, and the endangered

black-capped petrel The black-capped petrel (''Pterodroma hasitata''), also known as the diablotín, is a small seabird native to the West Indies in the genus '' Pterodroma''. It is a long-winged petrel with a grey-brown back and wings, with a white nape and rump. ...

. The only fully terrestrial species found in the islands are the common Puerto Rican ameiva ( ''Pholidoscelis exsul''), the threatened Puerto Rican blue-tailed ameiva (''

Ameiva wetmorei ''Pholidoscelis wetmorei'' is a species of lizard in the family Teiidae (whiptails)."''Pholidoscelis wetmorei'' ". The Reptile Database. http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Pholidoscelis&species=wetmorei The species is endemic to ...

''), and the Puerto Rican racer snake (''

Borikenophis portoricensis ''Borikenophis portoricensis'' (Puerto Rican Spanish: culebra corredora; English: Puerto Rican racer) is a snake endemic to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. It can grow to three feet long. Range The Puerto Rican racer is endemic to the isla ...

''). At least two species of sea turtle nest in Caja de Muertos and Morrillito islands: green sea turtles (''

Chelonia mydas 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 (biology), family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia' ...

'') and hawksbill sea turtles (''

Eretmochelys imbricata 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 large ...

''), which are endangered and critically endangered, respectively.

Flora

The flora that occurs in the Caja de Muertos reserve is similar to that found in the Guánica State Forest.

Cacti A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

and other xerophytic species are common throughout Caja de Muertos and Morrillito. The rest of the vegetation is

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

and mostly covers areas that have

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

soil. Examples of rare or unique flora species found in the area include serpentine manjack ('' Varronia bellonis'') and ''

Portulaca caulerpoides ''Portulaca'' (, is the type genus of the flowering plant family Portulacaceae, with over 100 species, found in the tropics and warm temperate regions. They are known as the purslanes. Common purslane (''Portulaca oleracea'') is widely consume ...

'', which are endemic to Puerto Rico. Other distinctive flora is the

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

and button mangrove on the sea-level mangrove basins, ''manzanillo de muertos'' or manchineel (Hippomane mancinella) in the drier areas, and algae and '' Thalassia'' on the seagrass prairies. The Puerto Rican applecactus (''

Harrisia portoricensis ''Harrisia portoricensis'' is a species of cactus in the genus '' Harrisia''. Its common names include ''higo chumbo'' and Puerto Rico applecactus. Distribution It is endemic to Puerto Rico, where it is known from three smaller islands off the c ...

'') is a critically endangered species of cactus from the Mona, Monito and

Desecheo Desecheo ( es, Isla Desecheo) () is a small uninhabited island of the archipelago of Puerto Rico located in the northeast of the Mona Passage; from Rincón on the west coast ( Punta Higüero) of the main island of Puerto Rico and northeast ...

islands in La Mona Passage that was introduced to Caja de Muertos by the DRNA. It is locally known as ''higo chumbo'', meaning "weighed-down ''prickly pear''" due to the leaning cactus arms caused by the weight of their fruit.

Coral reefs

The coral reef area in the nature reserve is among the most expansive and most preserved in Puerto Rico. Most of the coral is found on the northeastern reefs along Caja de Muertos; it serves as home and nursery to numerous fish species.

Recreation

Caja de Muertos can be reached by ferry from

La Guancha Boardwalk Paseo Tablado La Guancha (English: ''La Guancha Boardwalk'') is a boardwalk in the La Guancha sector of the Playa barrio in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, facing the Caribbean Sea. It was built under the mayoral administration of Rafael Corde ...

in Playa de Ponce. The reserve is open to hikers and beachgoers; there are four beaches in the reserve: Pelicano Beach, Playa Larga, Carrucho Beach and Coast Guard Beach. Snorkeling is allowed in the reserve.

Gallery

File:Playa Guardia Costanera, Isla Caja de Muertos, Barrio Playa, Ponce, PR (DSC00495).jpg, Coast Guard Beach in Caja de Muertos File:Playa Blanca, Isla Caja de Muertos, Barrio Playa, Ponce, PR (DSC00492).jpg, Reefs along the coast of Caja de Muertos. File:Playa Carrucho, Isla Caja de Muertos, Barrio Playa, Ponce, PR (DSC00497).jpg, Carrucho Beach File:Isla Caja de Muertos, Ponce Puerto Rico, mirando hacia el Sureste (DSC03707).jpg, Caja de Muertos island from Ponce. File:Caja de muerto Isla.jpg, Dry forest in Caja de Muertos. File:Cerro de Punta as seen from the Caja de Muertos, Ponce, Puerto Rico (DSC03691).jpg, Ponce and

Cerro de Punta Cerro de Punta or just Cerro Punta is the highest peak in Puerto Rico, rising to above sea level.As of February, 1981, the US Geological Survey reports the height as 1,328 meters. (See''Geographic Names Information System: Feature Query Result ...

from Caja de Muertos. File:Cactus Caja de Muerto.jpg, Cactus is common in the reserve.

References

{{Protected areas of Puerto Rico Islands of Puerto Rico Protected areas of Puerto Rico Protected areas established in 1980 Tourist attractions in Puerto Rico Tourist attractions in Ponce, Puerto Rico 1980 establishments in Puerto Rico