Tabarca Tabarca Tabarca (, ) also known in Valencian as "Nova Tabarca" and "Illa Plana", and in Spanish as "Nueva Tabarca" and "Isla Plana", is an islet located in the Mediterranean Sea, close to the town of Santa Pola, in the province of Alicante, Valencian community, Spain. Tabarca is the smallest permanently inhabited islet in Spain and it is currently known for its marine reserve. Despite being much more socially and economically related to the fishing port of Santa Pola, the tiny island of Tabarca is a part of the city of Alicante. Administratively, it is managed as a rural district
La Gomera giant lizard falls within its restricted range. The species is protected by international legislation, and a species recovery plan is in place. On La Gomera, a captive breeding programme has been established in order to increase the number of individuals. To ensure the survival of the remaining populations and facilitate eventual reintroductions, the feral cat population around the species' range needs to be controlled. In his scientific description, the German zoologist R. Hutterer referred the subfossil remains from La Gomera to two subspecies of "Gallotia simonyi" with the differences being size related. He named these "Gallotia simonyi bravoana" and "Gallotia simonyi gomerana".