Chapter 12
Echinoderms of the Cuban Archipelago
Rosa del Valle-García, Mercedes Abreu-Pérez, Francisco Alonso
Solís-Marín and Alfredo Laguarda-Figueras
12.1 Introduction
The Cuban Archipelago is found between 19850
0 –23817
0 N and 74808
0 –84857
0 W. It
is comprised of the island of Cuba (105,007 km
2 ), Isla de Pinos (2,200 km
2 ), and
about 4,195 cays and islets (Núñez-Jiménez 1982). The southern coasts border the
Caribbean Sea and the northern the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
The island of Cuba is the largest of the group comprising ‘‘the Greater Antilles’’. Its coast line is 3,209 km on the north side and 2,537 km on the south side.
The archipelago’s insular platform is shallow (\30 m in depth) and has a submerged plain relief with an emerged surface that, including the cays and islets
(with exception of the island of Cuba), covers an area of 67,831 km
2 (NúñezJiménez 1982). According to Ionin et al. (1977), the insular platform may be
considered a unique area from geological, tectonic and geomorphological points of
view. It has four independent shallow regions surrounded by the islands, cays, little
cays and reefs forming archipelagos (Fig. 12.1).
The insular slope is found nearby the exterior edge of the cays. The reefs begin
to decline between 20 and 50 m depth (usually at depths between 25 and 30 m).
In most of the periphery of the platform it drops nearly vertically down to a depth
between 100 and 150 m. This is followed by a zone of smaller slope (60–808)
R. d. Valle-García (&) Á M. Abreu-Pérez
Instituto de Oceanología, Ministerio de Ciencias
Tecnología y Medio Ambiente (CITMA), La Habana, Cuba
e-mail: rosa.denisse1@hotmail.cominformatica@giron.sld.cu
F. A. Solís-Marín Á A. Laguarda-Figueras
Laboratorio de Sistemática y Ecología de Equinodermos,
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma
de México (UNAM), Apdo. Post. 70-305, 04510, Mexico, D. F, Mexico
e-mail: fasolis@icmyl.unam.mx
J. J. Alvarado and F. A. Solís-Marín (eds.), Echinoderm Research and Diversity
in Latin America, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-20051-9_12,
Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
403
Echinoderms of the Cuban Archipelago
Rosa del Valle-García, Mercedes Abreu-Pérez, Francisco Alonso
Solís-Marín and Alfredo Laguarda-Figueras
12.1 Introduction
The Cuban Archipelago is found between 19850
0 –23817
0 N and 74808
0 –84857
0 W. It
is comprised of the island of Cuba (105,007 km
2 ), Isla de Pinos (2,200 km
2 ), and
about 4,195 cays and islets (Núñez-Jiménez 1982). The southern coasts border the
Caribbean Sea and the northern the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
The island of Cuba is the largest of the group comprising ‘‘the Greater Antilles’’. Its coast line is 3,209 km on the north side and 2,537 km on the south side.
The archipelago’s insular platform is shallow (\30 m in depth) and has a submerged plain relief with an emerged surface that, including the cays and islets
(with exception of the island of Cuba), covers an area of 67,831 km
2 (NúñezJiménez 1982). According to Ionin et al. (1977), the insular platform may be
considered a unique area from geological, tectonic and geomorphological points of
view. It has four independent shallow regions surrounded by the islands, cays, little
cays and reefs forming archipelagos (Fig. 12.1).
The insular slope is found nearby the exterior edge of the cays. The reefs begin
to decline between 20 and 50 m depth (usually at depths between 25 and 30 m).
In most of the periphery of the platform it drops nearly vertically down to a depth
between 100 and 150 m. This is followed by a zone of smaller slope (60–808)
R. d. Valle-García (&) Á M. Abreu-Pérez
Instituto de Oceanología, Ministerio de Ciencias
Tecnología y Medio Ambiente (CITMA), La Habana, Cuba
e-mail: rosa.denisse1@hotmail.cominformatica@giron.sld.cu
F. A. Solís-Marín Á A. Laguarda-Figueras
Laboratorio de Sistemática y Ecología de Equinodermos,
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma
de México (UNAM), Apdo. Post. 70-305, 04510, Mexico, D. F, Mexico
e-mail: fasolis@icmyl.unam.mx
J. J. Alvarado and F. A. Solís-Marín (eds.), Echinoderm Research and Diversity
in Latin America, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-20051-9_12,
Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
403