The Laje de Santos Marine State Park ( pt, Parque Estadual Marinho da Laje de Santos) is a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

in the state of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, Brazil. It protects a marine area off the coast of the state, and was the first such park to be created by São Paulo. It includes a rocky islet, tidal reefs and surrounding waters, with various areas suitable for diving, including a boat that was deliberately wrecked to form an artificial reef. The combination of warm surface waters and cold deeper waters supports a high level of biodiversity.

Location

The Laje de Santos Marine State Park is in the municipality of

Santos, São Paulo Santos (, ''Saints'') is a municipality in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, founded in 1546 by the Portuguese nobleman Brás Cubas. It is located mostly on the island of São Vicente, which harbors both the city of Santos and the city of São ...

. The park covers a marine rectangle that contains the Laje de Santos island and the Bandolim, Brilhante and Sul e Novo rocks and reefs. It is 16.8 nautical miles from the Moela Island Lighthouse on the mainland. The Laje de Santos is an island formed by the top of a mostly submerged granite mountain 22 nautical miles from the coast. The island is , and is high. The greatest depth in the surrounding sea is .

History

The Laje de Santos Marine State Park was created by state governor

Luís Antônio Fleury Filho Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

by decree 37.537 of 27 September 1993. It aims to fully protect the flora, fauna, scenic beauty and natural, marine and terrestrial ecosystems. It is the first marine park created by the state. At first nothing was done to impose the total ban on fishing within the park, which existed only on paper. After 2003 a change in government policy has improved protection, as has an active NGO that is dedicated to protection of the park. Volunteers and paid staff now have boats and equipment to patrol the boundaries. The park administration is under the Forest Foundation, a unit of the Environment Secretariat of the State of São Paulo.

Environment

The park contains the uninhabited Laje de Santos islet and several rocky reefs separated by extensive areas of sand, with a maximum depth of about . It is in the transition between tropical and sub-tropical environments, and is a high latitude "marginal" reef site. The granite rocks below the low tide level are mostly covered in patches of brown and red algae, ''

Palythoa caribaeorum ''Palythoa'' is a genus of anthozoans in the order Zoantharia.Reimer, J. (2018). Palythoa Lamouroux, 1816. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=205785 on 2018-08-27 Descrip ...

'',

hydrozoa Hydrozoa (hydrozoans; ) are a taxonomic class of individually very small, predatory animals, some solitary and some colonial, most of which inhabit saline water. The colonies of the colonial species can be large, and in some cases the specializ ...

ascidiacea Ascidiacea, commonly known as the ascidians, tunicates (in part), and sea squirts (in part), is a polyphyletic class in the subphylum Tunicata of sac-like marine invertebrate filter feeders. Ascidians are characterized by a tough outer "tunic" ...

and

octocorallia Octocorallia (also known as Alcyonaria) is a class of Anthozoa comprising around 3,000 species of water-based organisms formed of colonial polyps with 8-fold symmetry. It includes the blue coral, soft corals, sea pens, and gorgonians (sea fan ...

. The bedrock also holds sparse, isolated colonies of the ''

Madracis decactis ''Madracis'' is a genus of cnidarians belonging to the family Pocilloporidae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, cosmopolitan distribution is the term for the range of a taxon that extends across all or most of the wor ...

'' and '' Mussismilia hispida''

scleractinia Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyp (zoology), polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral di ...

. The prevailing

Brazil Current The Brazil Current is a warm water current that flows south along the Brazilian south coast to the mouth of the Río de la Plata. Description This current is caused by diversion of a portion of the Atlantic South Equatorial Current from where ...

brings warm surface waters from the north, supporting a local reef fish population that is closer to the fauna of the tropical Western Atlantic and Northeastern Brazilian coast than the fauna of southern temperate reefs. A seasonal upwelling brings colder waters of up from the shelf slope to the deepest areas of the reef, where temperate species are found. The result is a fauna that ranges from that of tropical regions to subtropical endemics and species found as far south as Patagonia. 196 reef fish species have been recorded, in 124 genera and 66 families. The families with the most species were

Carangidae The Carangidae are a family of ray-finned fish which includes the jacks, pompanos, jack mackerels, runners, and scads. It is the largest of the six families included within the order Carangiformes. Some authorities classify it as the only family ...

(16),

Grouper Groupers are fish of any of a number of genera in the subfamily Epinephelinae of the family Serranidae, in the order Perciformes. Not all serranids are called "groupers"; the family also includes the sea basses. The common name "grouper" is u ...

(12),

Wrasse The wrasses are a family, Labridae, of marine fish, many of which are brightly colored. The family is large and diverse, with over 600 species in 81 genera, which are divided into 9 subgroups or tribes. They are typically small, most of them le ...

(10),

Pomacentridae Pomacentridae is a family of ray-finned fish, comprising the damselfishes and clownfishes. This family were formerly placed in the order Perciformes but are now regarded as being ''incertae sedis'' in the subseries Ovalentaria in the clade Perco ...

(8) and

Parrotfish Parrotfishes are a group of about 90 fish species regarded as a Family (biology), family (Scaridae), or a subfamily (Scarinae) of the wrasses. With about 95 species, this group's largest species richness is in the Indo-Pacific. They are found ...

(8). Abundant fish species include the tomtate grunt (''Haemulon aurolineatum''),

sergeant major Sergeant major is a senior non-commissioned rank or appointment in many militaries around the world. History In 16th century Spain, the ("sergeant major") was a general officer. He commanded an army's infantry, and ranked about third in the ...

(''Abudefduf saxatilis''), brown chromis (''

Chromis multilineata ''Chromis multilineata'' is a species of fish in the family Pomacentridae. It is commonly known as the brown chromis. It is found in the western Atlantic Ocean from the southern United States south to Brazil and in the eastern Atlantic off St Hel ...

''), dusky damselfish (''

Stegastes fuscus ''Stegastes fuscus'', the dusky damselfish, is a species of bony fish in the Family (biology), family Pomacentridae found near the seabed in shallow waters on the western fringes of the Atlantic Ocean.Chromis jubauna''), silver porgy (''

Diplodus argenteus ''Diplodus'' is a genus of fish in the family (biology), family Sparidae, found in the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic and Indian Ocean. Species There are currently 23 recognized species in this genus: * ''Diplodus annularis'' (Carl Linnaeus, Linnaeus, ...

''), porkfish (''

Anisotremus virginicus ''Anisotremus virginicus'', the porkfish, also known as the Atlantic porkfish sweetlips, dogfish or paragrate grunt, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grunt belonging to the family Haemulidae. It is native to the western Atlantic Ocean. ...

'') and ringneck blenny (''Parablennius pilicornis''). The park is on the migratory route of the giant

manta ray Manta rays are large rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, '' M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, '' M. alfredi'', reaches . Both have triangular Pectoral fin#AnchPect ...

s of the Brazilian coast, which visit in the autumn and winter.

Visiting

SP - Parque Estadual Marinho Laje de Santos - Cardume de Xira 2

Public use is allowed under park rules that ensure conservation and appreciation of the local ecosystems. Scuba diving and boating are allowed in the park. Boats are no longer allowed to anchor, but diving boats may use mooring buoys. Visitors may not capture or collect any marine or terrestrial organism, except where permitted for scientific research, must not land on the island or reefs without prior authorization, and must refrain from any activities that cause physical damage or pollution. Diving areas include Portinho on the sheltered north coast of the Laje, a smooth rocky slope that presents little difficulty to the diver. It is inhabited by many

benthic fish Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 They occ ...

and invertebrates, and sea turtles are often present. The Boca da Baleia (Whale's Mouth) is a rock formation on the south side of the Laje de Santos where many fish and turtles are found, with a depth of up to . The Ponta Leste (East Point) of the Laje de Santos descends to . Halfway down it is common to see

southern stingray The southern stingray (''Hypanus americanus'') is a whiptail stingray found in tropical and subtropical waters of the Western Atlantic Ocean from New Jersey to southern Brazil. It has a flat, diamond-shaped disc, with a mud brown, olive, and gr ...

, large groupers,

Atlantic wreckfish The Atlantic wreckfish, (''Polyprion americanus''), also known as the stone bass or bass grouper, is a marine, bathydemersal, and oceanodromous ray-finned fish in the family Polyprionidae. It has a worldwide, if disjunct, distribution in the At ...

and even

Atlantic goliath grouper The Atlantic goliath grouper or itajara (''Epinephelus itajara''), formerly known as the jewfish, is a saltwater fish of the grouper family and one of the largest species of bony fish. The species can be found in the west ranging from northeaste ...

s. Nearer the surface there are always many turtles and assorted shoals of fish. The Naufrágio do Moréia (Moray Wreck) is a deliberately wrecked iron fishing boat that was sunk in 1995 to create an artificial reef. The boat is disintegrating, so should not be entered. It is home to invertebrates such as

anemone ''Anemone'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Plants of the genus are commonly called windflowers. They are native to the temperate and subtropical regions of all continents except Australia, New Zealand an ...

s and gorgonians,

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

s, groupers,

sargo The sargo or white seabream (''Diplodus sargus'') is a species of seabream native to the eastern Atlantic and western Indian Oceans. It is found from the Bay of Biscay southwards to South Africa, including Madeira and the Canary Islands, the Med ...

s, white grunt (''

Haemulon plumierii ''Haemulon plumierii'', the white grunt or common grunt, is a species of Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish in the family Haemulidae native to the western Atlantic Ocean. It grows to a length of about and is a silvery-cream color, with narrow yello ...

'') and

salema porgy ''Sarpa salpa'', known commonly as the dreamfish, salema, salema porgy, cow bream or goldline, is a species of sea bream, recognisable by the golden stripes that run down the length of its body, and which can cause ichthyoallyeinotoxism when ea ...

Notes

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Laje de Santos Marine State Park State parks of Brazil Protected areas established in 1993 1993 establishments in Brazil Protected areas of São Paulo (state)