The oil slick off the Galapagos Islands could still threaten its sea-going iguanas, a prehistoric species found only in the Pacific archipelago, a top environmentalist said yesterday.
"Marine iguanas could be seriously affected in the mid and long term," Mr Fernando Espinoza, director of the Charles Darwin Foundation, said yesterday on Ecuadoran television.
The reptiles feed on seaweed, some of which is now soaked in crude oil, said Mr Espinoza.
Unlike most iguanas, marine iguanas are amphibious - they plunge into the ocean to search for food, though they live on land.
The Islands' best-known residents, its 10,000 giant tortoises were not at risk since the oil slick is now heading north, Mr Espinoza said.
Blower dolphins, multicolored tropical fish, red crabs, albatross, blue-footed boobies, and wingless cormorants are among other species found on the islands.
Some 90 per cent of the reptiles, 46 per cent of the insects and about half the birds on the Galapagos are unique to the archipelago.
The volcanic islands were first made famous when pioneering biologist Charles Darwin conducted research there in 1835 leading him to develop his theory of evolution.
US Coast Guard specialists at the site of the oil slick said bad weather had hampered efforts to pump remaining oil from the tanker. "It's hard to describe just how difficult this operation is," the Coast Guard team's commander, Ed Stanton, said.
The Jessica already spilled some 600 tonnes of fuel oil in a slick covering more than 1,200 square kilometres that had started to drift north of the islands when news of a second leak came late last night.
Stanton said his team pumped between 20,000 to 40,000 litres of oil from the tanker before bad weather forced them to stop. They were waiting for calmer seas to resume operations, he said.
But an inspection of the ship led the team to believe that less than 450,000 litres remains on board.