Canary Islands prehistoric tortoises; Geochelone burchardi and Geochelone vulcanica. The marine life found in the Canary Islands is also varied, being a combination of North Atlantic, Mediterranean and endemic species. In recent years, the increasing popularity of both scuba diving and underwater photography have provided biologists with much new information on the marine life of the islands. Fish species found in the islands include many species of shark, ray, moray eel, bream, jack, grunt, scorpionfish, triggerfish, grouper, goby, and blenny. In addition, there are many invertebrate species, including sponge, jellyfish, anemone, crab, mollusc, sea urchin, starfish, sea cucumber and coral. There are
Sphinx blenny mating, the blennies form distinct pairs, and the females lay up to 7000 eggs in a sitting, which are then guarded in burrows by the males. Males are known to cannibalize dead eggs to prevent infection spread amongst the healthy eggs, although in smaller broods they have also been reported consuming living eggs. It is believed that this is due to limited feeding opportunities for the males during breeding, as a result of their restriction to the nests. FishBase considers the blennies to be of Low Vulnerability, with a reproductive doubling time of less than 15 months. Sphinx blenny The