FAUNA - ANIMAL LIFE IN TENERIFE
There is a great diversity of invertebrates, with insects and spiders predominating. The Vanessa vulcania butterfly is frequently seen in this area. Vertebrates include insectivorous birds such as the Sardinian warbler and the blackcap.
The laurel forest is the ecosystem with the richest variety of invertebrates and the highest percentage of endemic species. The special conditions of shade and humidity are ideal for the development of worms, molluscs and especially arthropods.
Vertebrate fauna includes some species of bats, and many birds, with two important endemic species: the white tailed laurel pigeon (Columba junoniae) and Bolle's laurel pigeon (Columba bolli).The fauna is also lacking in variety.
There is a predominance of invertebrates, which are more frequently found in the pine trees than in the soil, as there is a greater variety of habitats there. Almost the only vertebrates are a few species of birds, inluding the blue chaffinch and the greater spotted woodpecker.
There is a great variety of invertebrate fauna and a high percentage of endemic species. Beetles, fleas and butterflies are abundant. Vertebrates, on the other hand, are more scarce, being almost completely limited to reptiles, a few nesting birds and some bats.
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NESTING BIRDS
Some 56 species of birds nest in Tenerife, 25 of which are perching species and 31 non-perching species. Tenerife has the highest number of nesting birds of all the islands.
Populations, however, are small and two species - royal kite and Egyptian vulture - have become extinct in recent years and others, like the osprey, Barbary falcon, raven, etc. are endangered.
The island of Tenerife has three of the four endemic species of the Canary Islands (blue chaffinch, white tailed laurel pigeon and Bolle's laurel pigeon) and the three endemic species of Macaronesia (Canary, Berthelot's pipit and plain swift).
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MARINE FAUNA
The ichthyofauna of the Canary Islands is made up of elements from the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, tropical and sub-tropical zones and Macaronesia, giving an enormous variety of species distributed according to substrate or depth of water.
The most abundant fish over rocky bottoms are: parrot fish (Sparrisoma cretense), dusky grouper (Epinephelus guaza), comb grouper (Mycteroperca rubra), saupe (Sarpa sarpa), white bream (Diplodus sargus), Conger eel (Conger conger), Mediterranean moray eel (Muraena helena and Lycodontis spp.), blacktail comber (Serranus cabrilla and S. atricauda), glasseye (Priacanthus cruentatus), scorpion fish (Scorpaena spp.), goldeneye perch (Beryx spendens) and wreckfish (Polyprion americanus).
On bottoms of sand and stone, you find dentex (Dentex spp.), Couch's sea bream (Sparus pagrus), common sea bream (Pagellus spp.), marmor bream (Lithognathus mormyrus), black bream (Spondyliosoma cantharus) and meagre (Argyrosomus regius).
On bottoms of mud and sand, you find: striped red mullet (Mullus spp.), stingray (Dasyatis pastinaca), electric rays (Torpedo spp.), angel sharks (Squatina spp.), houndshark ( Mustellus mustellus and Galieorhinus gleus) and morid cod (Mora moro).
In the pelagic ecosystem of the Canary Islands, both coastal and oceanic pelagic species are represented: Among the oceanic species, you can find some tropical tuna species at some times of the year, such as bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus), yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) and the skipjack tuna (Katsumonus pelamis, along with species from more temperate waters, like the bluefin tuna and albacore.
The coast of Tenerife conserves marine ecosystems with a large number of endemic species. Interesting species of turtles are also recorded, such as the loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and there is a permanent population of pilot whales of the southern coast of the island. These whales measure 6 to 8 metres and weigh between 800 and 3000 Kg. and live in groups of between 10 and 200.
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