The waters of Lanzarote and La Graciosa, which bathe the route from the Sea to the River, are among the richest in biodiversity in the Canary Islands.
The northern marine layer towards the islets is the Marine Reserve of the Chinijo Archipelago, which with 70,700 hectares is the largest in Europe.
The presence of cetaceans is very important, with more than a dozen resident and migratory species. We can find the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), the spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis), the striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba), the common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) or the Risso’s dolphin ( Grampus griseus). Other species that visit these waters during their migrations are the Bryde´s whale (Balaenoptera edeni), the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) or the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), among many others.
The volcanic seabed, with its caves and shelters, alternates with the sandy beaches, making it the perfect habitat for more than 300 species of algae and marine fauna, around 240 invertebrates. Such as the octopus (Octopus vulgaris), cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) or the Canary lobster (Scyllarides latus); as well as spectacular formations of yellow gorgonian (Leptogorgia viminalis), red gorgonian (Leptogorgia ruberrima), black coral (Antipathella wollastoni), and gerardia (Gerardia savaglia and macaronesica).
Among the 259 vertebrate species, the endangered angelshark (Squatina squatina) stands out, with one of the best populations of the species. Large pelagics such as hammerhead sharks can be observed. (Sphyrna zygaena) and the manta (Manta birostris); several species of rays such as the mantelina (Gymnura altavela), the mutt (Taeniura grabata) and bishop (Pteromylaeus bovinus). In addition to mere (Epinephelus marginatus), abbots (Mycteroperca fusca) black amberjacks (Seriola rivoliana), bicudas (Sphyraena viridensis), murions, (Gymnothorax unicolor), breams (Diplodus sargus), horse mackerels (Pseudocaranx dentex), drumlins (Chilomycterus reticulatu), pejeverdes ( Thalassoma pavo), viejas (Sparisoma cretense), black fulas(Abudefduf luridus) and many more.
In the open sea we can also find 6 of the 7 species of sea turtles existing in the world, all of them in danger of extinction, as is the case of the loggerhead and leatherback turtles.
