The Los Roques archipelago comprises about 42 small islands that encircle a lagoon spanning approximately 400km. In the northeast, the El Gran Roque rises with its meager heights, consisting of three lighthouses and a network of small houses formerly belonging to fishermen who hailed from Margarita Island. The remaining keys in the archipelago are flat and abandoned, but abound with various bird species. However, the real marvels of Los Roques are found beyond the land, extending down to the sea’s depths. The coral reefs create an underwater world that is breathtakingly beautiful, yet delicate, with an incredible variety of marine life, amidst an unimaginable blend of greens and blues. The tropical light bathing the Los Roques sea presents visitors with a paradise replete with brilliant colors, densely populated, and magnificently crafted by marine creatures. Despite its name, Los Roques has hardly any rocks. The island’s only rocks end in the cliffs of El Gran Roque, making the name unsuitable for the surrounding landscape, which is dominated by the sea and sand. In Los Roques, the light illuminates every corner, making it a perfect hostess for visitors.

Marine Ecosystems
The archipelago boasts an impressive variety of species, particularly within its coral reefs, which hold significant biological, ecological, physiographic, and scenic value. The marine fauna and oceanic life found within the reefs are infinitely more diverse and valuable than the species found on land. Coral reefs are exceptionally diverse environments, characterized by small areas of rough and calm waters, fluctuations in temperature, and bright and shady areas with an abundance of nutrients, generating habitats for various species of fish, such as the ocean surgeonfish, angelfish, and spotfin butterflyfish. These species have adapted specifically to life on the coral reef, with some, like the flashy cleaner fish, cleaning other fish, while others, like the parrotfish, scrape polyps off the calcareous surface of the corals with their mandibles. Surrounding the reef, there are barracudas, nurse sharks, various species of rays and manta rays, and enormous screens of plankton. The snappers, yellowtail snappers, and groupers found in the area are of great commercial value, as is the spiny lobster, which accounts for over 90% of the national production and is particularly valuable in Los Roques.

Seagrass beds constitute another underwater ecosystem, consisting of flowering plants that reproduce through their fruits, unlike algae. They are commonly found in bright shallow waters with depths ranging from 0.5 to 6 meters. Seagrass beds form dark zones in lagoons of low depth behind coraline barriers or are located in mangrove swamps, where they make up the ideal substratum to keep the plants firm. The most frequently encountered species are turtle grass, which is the favorite food of green turtles, parrotfish and surgeonfish, and manatee grass, which has leaves resembling spaghetti. The seagrass beds serve as a perfect labyrinth filled with nutrients, where hundreds of fish find a suitable habitat to spawn, live out their young lives, and hide from predators. Additionally, the seagrass beds serve as a refuge for cushion sea stars, sea cucumbers, sea worms, and mollusks like the queen conch, which has a pinkish shell and is one of the best snails in the Caribbean with much-appreciated meat. Queen conch has been commercially exploited on a large scale as a typical dish of some Caribbean islands, and its shells have been used in religious ceremonies, as domestic utensils, and as souvenirs. Due to overexploitation, the capture of queen conch and turtle populations has been prohibited to ensure their conservation.

Geology
The Los Roques Archipelago, made up of igneous-metamorphosed rocks, was formed during the Cretaceous period, about 130 million years ago. During the Tertiary Period, the archipelago was uplifted and remained close to sea level. Calcareous sediment layers were then deposited on the platform, due to the action of marine currents and the disintegration of coral, mollusk shells, and other marine organisms. In the Pleistocene epoch, around 15-19 thousand years ago, the ice melted, causing the expansion of coral reefs and the creation of North and South Barriers which provided protection for inner areas and resulted in the formation of keys. Since then, stable conditions of temperature, salinity, clarity, and water depth have created a suitable environment for the survival and preservation of the reef structure by corals, calcareous algae, mollusks, and other organisms.