Marine iguana
Amazing fact
Marine iguanas expel salt swallowed with food as crystals from glands in their noses.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Marine iguanas expel salt swallowed with food as crystals from glands in their noses.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Marine iguana
- Scientific name
- Amblyrhynchus cristatus
- Japanese name
- ウミイグアナ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Iguanidae
- Genus
- Amblyrhynchus
An iguana of the Galapagos Islands off South America. It lives on volcanic islands with steep rock cliffs and rocky ledges.
Its body is grey to black, with pyramid-shaped scales along the back. Its dark color helps it warm up.
It eats almost nothing but seaweed. Bigger ones often dive into the sea at high tide, while smaller ones feed along the shore at low tide.
How the Marine iguana lives
When cold, they become less able to move effectively. They regulate body temperature by alternating between cold seawater and basking on rocks near shore. They need a sandy place to lay their eggs.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Diet
- Marine algae
- Range
- Galapagos Islands
Where the Marine iguana has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ウミイグアナ
- 简体中文
- 海鬣蜥
- 繁體中文
- 海鬣蜥
- 한국어
- 바다이구아나
- Español
- Iguana marina
- Français
- Amblyrhynche à crête
- Deutsch
- Meerechse
- Português (Brasil)
- Iguana-marinha
- Italiano
- Iguana marina
- العربية
- إغوانا بحرية
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Iguana laut
- Tiếng Việt
- Kỳ nhông biển
- Русский
- Морская игуана
- Türkçe
- Deniz İguanası
- ไทย
- อิกัวนาทะเล
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Amblyrhynchus cristatusChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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