En español
The land that rose from the sea
along Patagonia's eastern edge millions of years ago now
nurtures remarkable marine life in its sheltering waters
and on its shore. The flat steppe extends its jagged ledge
over 1000 mi/1600 km along the
South Atlantic Ocean.
The waters there combine the warm ocean current of Brazil
to the north with the cold current from Islas Malvinas
(Falklands Islands) to create an underwater world of
unusual diversity. The seas hold vast amounts of plankton,
algae, crustaceans and fish, food for one of the largest
breeding areas for marine life on earth, as well as
myriad species of sea birds.
Southern elephant seals, found
only in the southern hemisphere, breed exclusively on
Península Valdés
in the South Atlantic and on
the Indian Ocean coast. Other families of marine
mammals, including the
southern sea lions and
southern fur seals, number in
the hundreds and colonies of them stretch for mile upon
mile of beach.
The largest of the marine mammals, the
southern right whale, returns
to the coast each year to breed in its calm waters before
returning to the high seas. They share these waters with
orcas, also known as killer whales, and dolphins. Most
abundant, however, are the
Magellanic penguins that
number nearly a million.
