Chapter 3
Central America Echinoderms: Diversity,
Ecology and Future Perspectives
Juan José Alvarado, Enrique Barraza and Tito Isaac Sancho-Mejías
3.1 Introduction
Central America (CA) is a narrow strip of land that divides the two largest oceans
of the world, which are the Atlantic and the Pacific (Cortés 2007). It include seven
countries: Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and
Panama. According to the ‘‘Sea Around US Project’’ (www.seaaroundus.org) CA
posseses an Exclusive Economic Zone of 1,518,705 km
2 (1,005,922 km
2 on the
Pacific and 512,783 km
2 on the Caribbean), which is three time larger than its
terrestrial area (521,876 km
2 ). CA also posseses 156,251 km
2 of continental shelf
(56,217 km
2 on the Pacific and 100,034 km
2 on the Caribbean), with 3.7 % of the
coral reefs area of the world (0.4 % on the Pacific and 3.3 % on the Caribbean)
(www.seaaroundus.org), and 6,603 km of coastline (2,856 km on the Caribbean
Sea and 3,747 km on the Pacific Ocean) (www.cia.gov/library/publications/theworld-factbook).
J. J. Alvarado (&)
Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (CIMAR),
Universidad de Costa Rica San Pedro, San José, 11501-2060, Costa Rica
e-mail: juanalva76@yahoo.comjuan.alvarado@ucr.ac.cr
J. J. Alvarado
Posgrado en Ciencias Marinas y Costeras, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur,
La Paz, Mexico
E. Barraza
Gerencia de Vida Silvestre, Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales,
San Salvador, El Salvador
e-mail: ebarraza@marn.gob.sveulaliabarr@yahoo.com
T. I. Sancho-Mejías
Museo de Zoología, Escuela de Biología, Universidad de Costa Rica,
San José, Costa Rica
e-mail: sancho.ekin02@gmail.com
J. J. Alvarado and F. A. Solís-Marín (eds.), Echinoderm Research and Diversity
in Latin America, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-20051-9_3,
Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
67
Central America Echinoderms: Diversity,
Ecology and Future Perspectives
Juan José Alvarado, Enrique Barraza and Tito Isaac Sancho-Mejías
3.1 Introduction
Central America (CA) is a narrow strip of land that divides the two largest oceans
of the world, which are the Atlantic and the Pacific (Cortés 2007). It include seven
countries: Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and
Panama. According to the ‘‘Sea Around US Project’’ (www.seaaroundus.org) CA
posseses an Exclusive Economic Zone of 1,518,705 km
2 (1,005,922 km
2 on the
Pacific and 512,783 km
2 on the Caribbean), which is three time larger than its
terrestrial area (521,876 km
2 ). CA also posseses 156,251 km
2 of continental shelf
(56,217 km
2 on the Pacific and 100,034 km
2 on the Caribbean), with 3.7 % of the
coral reefs area of the world (0.4 % on the Pacific and 3.3 % on the Caribbean)
(www.seaaroundus.org), and 6,603 km of coastline (2,856 km on the Caribbean
Sea and 3,747 km on the Pacific Ocean) (www.cia.gov/library/publications/theworld-factbook).
J. J. Alvarado (&)
Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (CIMAR),
Universidad de Costa Rica San Pedro, San José, 11501-2060, Costa Rica
e-mail: juanalva76@yahoo.comjuan.alvarado@ucr.ac.cr
J. J. Alvarado
Posgrado en Ciencias Marinas y Costeras, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur,
La Paz, Mexico
E. Barraza
Gerencia de Vida Silvestre, Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales,
San Salvador, El Salvador
e-mail: ebarraza@marn.gob.sveulaliabarr@yahoo.com
T. I. Sancho-Mejías
Museo de Zoología, Escuela de Biología, Universidad de Costa Rica,
San José, Costa Rica
e-mail: sancho.ekin02@gmail.com
J. J. Alvarado and F. A. Solís-Marín (eds.), Echinoderm Research and Diversity
in Latin America, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-20051-9_3,
Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
67