. Annual report - Western Society of Malacologists. Mollusks; Mollusks. Western Society of Malacologists 25th Annual Meeting THE ENVIRONS OF ISLA DEL COCO, COSTA RICA: PHYSICAL ASPECTS Michel Montoya Box 6327 San Jose, Costa Rica Cocos Island is located in the central Eastern Pacific approximately 5° north of the equator and sits 490 km off Cabo Blanco, Costa Rica, its nearest point on the conti- nent. The closest islands, Isla Malpelo (Colombia) and the Galapagos group (Ecuador), are over 600 km away. The shape of Cocos Island is ovoid, measuring km in length, km in width and 23.
. Annual report - Western Society of Malacologists. Mollusks; Mollusks. Western Society of Malacologists 25th Annual Meeting THE ENVIRONS OF ISLA DEL COCO, COSTA RICA: PHYSICAL ASPECTS Michel Montoya Box 6327 San Jose, Costa Rica Cocos Island is located in the central Eastern Pacific approximately 5° north of the equator and sits 490 km off Cabo Blanco, Costa Rica, its nearest point on the conti- nent. The closest islands, Isla Malpelo (Colombia) and the Galapagos group (Ecuador), are over 600 km away. The shape of Cocos Island is ovoid, measuring km in length, km in width and km in circumference. Surface area is approximately 24 square kilometers. Cocos Island is believed to be the product of local volcanism that occurred during the Late Pliocene. It is the only outcrop protruding above sea level from the Cocos Aseismic Ridge which rides on the Cocos Plate. The highest point on the island is Cerro Iglesias with an eleva- tion of 634 m. There are four main embayments in which there are small beaches. The rest of the shoreline consists of vertical cliffs which extend subtidally as stepwise shelves with rubble fields. The only intertidal areas are found in the bays. The marine biota of Cocos Island is affected by a complex interplay of three oceanic circulation patterns which vary temporally. These include an eastward flow- ing system which carries warm tropical water slightly north of the equator, two westward flowing cooler cur- rents which bracket the eastward current, and a minor complex which originates near the coast of Central America. The role these cur-rents have on the diversity of island marine life varies seasonally and from year to year, with the most dramatic effects be- ing noted during El Nino DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF MOLLUSKS AT COCOS ISLAND: A ZOOGEOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW Donald R. Shasky Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Santa Barbara, California, USA An overview of the malacofauna of Cocos Island is presented which
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionbiodiversity, booksubjectmollusks
