Delagoa

Delagoa is a marine ecoregion along the eastern coast of Africa. It extends along the coast of Mozambique and South Africa from the Bazaruto Archipelago (21°14’ S) to Lake St. Lucia in South Africa (28° 10' S) in South Africa's Kwazulu-Natal province.[1] It adjoins the Bight of Sofala/Swamp Coast ecoregion to the north, and the Natal ecoregion to the south.[2] It has Africa's southernmost tropical coral reefs and mangrove forests. It is the southernmost Indo-Pacific ecoregion, marking the transition from the tropical Indo-Pacific to Temperate Southern Africa.

Geography

The dominant shoreline feature in the ecoregion is sandy beaches backed by coastal dunes. The dunes can reach up to 120 meters in height, and older dunes are vegetated. Behind the coastal dunes are lagoons, including river estuaries, closed saline lagoons, and salt lakes.

The warm Agulhas Current runs southward parallel to the coast.

Habitat types

Seagrass meadows are found in sheltered waters behind coastal islands and in large estuaries.

Outcrops of sandstone support algae and corals, including coral reefs. Hard corals are reaching their southern limit, and soft corals are more common.[3] The Bazaruto Archipelago is home to fringing reefs and patch reefs made up of soft and hard corals. High thickets of Porites and Acropora hard corals grow in the archipelago's sheltered back reefs. Fringing reefs are also found at Inhaca and Portuguese Islands near Maputo Bay.[4]

The southernmost reef corals are found on the northern coast of Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa, between the Mozambican border and Cape Vidal. A community of hard and soft corals, sponges, and ascidians, known as the Maputaland Reef Complex, live on submerged outcrops of fossilized dune and beach rock 9 to 13 meters below the surface. The corals do not form reef structures.[5]

Mangroves occur at Bazaruto Island, at the mouth of the Limpopo River, and around Maputo Bay, including Inhaca Island and the estuary of the Komati River.[6]

Fauna

The seagrass meadows of the Bazaruto Archipelago are home to Dugongs (Dugong dugon). Loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles lay their eggs on the region's sandy beaches. The offshore area between Závora and Vilanculos attracts whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) and manta rays (Manta alfredi and Manta birostris).[7]

Protected areas

Marine protected areas include:

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References
  1. Pereira, Marcos & Litulo, Carlos & Santos, Rodrigo & Costa Leal, Miguel & Fernandes, Raquel & Tibirica, Yara & Williams, Jess & Atanassov, Boris & Carreira, Filipa & Massingue, Alice & Marques da Silva, Isabel. (2014). Mozambique marine ecosystems review. 10.13140/2.1.2092.5766.
  2. Spalding, Mark D., Helen E. Fox, Gerald R. Allen, Nick Davidson et al. "Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas". Bioscience Vol. 57 No. 7, July/August 2007, pp. 573-583.
  3. Pereira, Marcos & Litulo, Carlos & Santos, Rodrigo & Costa Leal, Miguel & Fernandes, Raquel & Tibirica, Yara & Williams, Jess & Atanassov, Boris & Carreira, Filipa & Massingue, Alice & Marques da Silva, Isabel. (2014). Mozambique marine ecosystems review. 10.13140/2.1.2092.5766.
  4. Nyawira Muthiga, Lionel Bigot and Agneta Nilsson (1998). "East Africa: Coral reef programs of eastern Africa and the Western Indian Ocean". International Tropical Marine Ecosystems Management Symposium (ITMEMS) Proceedings, 1998.
  5. Riegl, B., M. H. Schleyer, P. J. Cook and G. M. Branch (1995). "Structure of Africa's Southernmost Coral Communities". Bulletin of Marine Science, 56(2): 676--691, 1995.
  6. Burgess, N., J.D. Hales, E. Underwood, and E. Dinerstein (2004). Terrestrial Ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar: A Conservation Assessment. Island Press, Washington, D.C.
  7. Pereira, Marcos & Litulo, Carlos & Santos, Rodrigo & Costa Leal, Miguel & Fernandes, Raquel & Tibirica, Yara & Williams, Jess & Atanassov, Boris & Carreira, Filipa & Massingue, Alice & Marques da Silva, Isabel. (2014). Mozambique marine ecosystems review. 10.13140/2.1.2092.5766.
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