Located in the Sabana-Camagüey Archipelago, in the central-northern marine platform of Cuba, Los Caimanes National Park is one of the 211 protected areas that the largest of the Antilles has, of great significance for the country, due to its high natural values and landscaping.
Created in 2002 and legalized in 2008, this wonderful place occupies an area of 28,831.00 hectares, of which 28,717.00 are marine, with a total of 658 species of both flora and fauna. Regarding the marine flora, three species of phanerogams stand out, which are plants adapted to live in the marine environment and 98 of macroalgae that generally live attached to rocks.
The remaining 557 species correspond to fauna, whose most diverse groups are molluscs and fish. There are also mollusks with 301 species and fish with 130, as well as 19 species of porifera -multicellular animals that live attached to rocks or shells-, coelenterates -polyps or jellyfish-, annelids -species of invertebrates-, echinoderms -stars sea, among others- and crustaceans, mammals and reptiles.
Likewise, in the waters of the park there are two wrecks that, together with the beautiful underwater landscapes, constitute extremely attractive elements that can promote their use in tourism for the practice of diving and snorkeling. This park does not have access by land, although it does have strong traditional fishing links. Despite this, the relative distance from the mainland has caused a good state of conservation of the place, which earned it the 2016 Special National Prize for Conservation of Natural Heritage.
The fish fauna that lives there also includes valuable species of commercial interest, particularly snappers and groupers, and 9 varieties of these spawn in the same site, one of the most important in the Caribbean. For all these attributes, the park is known as "Los Caimanes National Park, where the fish are born."
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