Tenerife Island | Tour Tenerife with the Green Bearded Bard

Sea Hares are a type of slug but have been called Sea Butterflies

On the rocky beaches in the tidal pools of Tenerife island some very attractive and unusual sea creatures can be found and one of these is the White-speckled Sea Hare (Aplysia dactylomela) or Conejo de Mar, as it is known in Spanish. Whilst terrestrial slugs are the gardener's nightmare the beauty of their marine counterparts have caused them to be dubbed "sea butterflies." There are many types of sea slug and most browse on sea weed.

The Sea Hares emit a cloud of purple ink if disturbed, and this has been thought to be a defense mechanism like that used by squid.

For more info there is an excellent forum all about Sea Hares at:

http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=seahares

A word of warning about the Portuguese Man-of-War

The Portuguese Man-of-War (Physalia physalia) is sometimes found washed up on beaches in the Canary Islands. It is often called a 'jellyfish' but it is actually a hydrozoan and is a colony of individual animals with specialised functions. There is a balloon-like float above and a mass of tentacles and the mouth below. The floats are filled with Argon gas and Nitrogen.

These creatures are very dangerous to bathers and the sting is said to be 65% more venomous than that of the cobra. The Man-of-War has its sting in the blue tentacles below the float and should be avoided at all costs because apart from intense pain, the sting can even cause breathing paralysis. The stinging tentacles can reach over 30 foot and trail in the water in the attempt to catch small fish, and due to this it is possible for a person who is swimming to come into contact with them and get stung.

Of course, children should also be warned not to touch these creatures if they see them. They might try to pop the balloon-like float with their feet or fingers and this could have disastrous consequences.

The Portuguese Man-of-War is at the mercy of the wind and tides as to where it goes, and although it poses a considerable danger to humans it is eaten by turtles and some other marine animals.

Praying mantises are found on Tenerife Island

There are several types of Praying Mantis found on Tenerife, including an endemic Teide Mantis. These fascinating creatures are camouflaged to look like the plants they often live on where they wait for and hunt their prey, which consists mainly of other insects. The Praying Mantis is a favourite food of bats and often gets caught by these small mammals when flying as an adult.

Crickets are more often heard than seen

On Tenerife island crickets are often heard singing especially at night and 1 of the most common types is the Field Cricket (Gryllus sp.). Although common it is seldom seen and when you try to track down one you can hear it is a very frustrating experience because the insect shuts up as soon as you come close and appears to project its call. Field Crickets were on the verge of extinction in the UK but are doing well here.

They eat plant material, seeds, other insects and scavenge for whatever they can digest. They live in cracks and dark places and the males sing to establish territory and to attract females. The females have long ovipositors to lay their eggs with. Males produce their song by rubbing their wingcases together.

Field Cricket male

Field Cricket female showing ovipositor

The Monarch Butterfly

The Monarch or Milkweed Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is a fairly common sight on Tenerife island. It is the largest butterfly found here and has reddish wings boldly veined in black. These colours are "warning colours" to show that it tastes very bad and is poisonous. This is because the caterpillar, which feeds on Milkweed, absorbs the toxins from the plant into its body.

In America the Monarch is a migratory butterfly which overwinters in California, Florida and Mexico and then journeys up to the northern states and Canada and back again taking up to 3 generations of insects to complete the migration and breeding along the route. In Tenerife island the species is non-migratory but these butterflies live shorter lives because they don't have the winter dormancy period.

Although the Monarch is poisonous to predators as a caterpillar it is parasitised by tachinid flies.

Monarch caterpillar

Monarch chrysalis

Adult Monarch butterfly freshly emerged

The Geckos of Tenerife Island

There are two types of Gecko on Tenerife island, the Tenerife Gecko (Tarentola delalandii) and the Turkish Gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) and the latter species was introduced in the Santa Cruz area and has spread widely.

The Tenerife Gecko is a much darker sooty grey or blackish colour and tends to be found in walls and under rocks on the rough stony areas, whilst the Turkish Gecko is a pale brown colour or a pinkish buff and tends to often frequent houses and deserted buildings where it climbs on walls and ceilings after dark.

Geckos have the remarkable ability of being able to walk and run upside down on celings and to go up and down vertical surfaces.

They feed on insects and can help keep cockroaches and other pests down and are regarded as lucky omens in many parts of the world.

Turkish Gecko

Shrew of the Canaries

Tenerife and the islands of the archipelago have very few mammal species but one of these is the Shrew Musaraña Canaria (Crocidura canariensis), which has been found in Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and Tenerife, where it was believed to have been introduced in the Santa Cruz area. It is also found on Los Lobos and the islets. This endemic species lives in arid desert zones.

The White-toothed Pygmy Shrew (Suncus etruscus), which is pictured above, is also is found on Tenerife where it was introduced and has spread itself around the island. It is, by weight, the smallest mammal in the world.

Shrews are insectivorous and need an almost constant supply of food. They live very fast-paced lives and only live a short time, and dead specimens like the one above have often died of natural causes.

Mosquito Fish

Mosquito Fish (Gambusia holbrooki) are small live-bearers that can be found in Tenerife in fresh and brackish water pools and in reservoirs and irrigation tanks.

They are widely distributed in tropical and subtropical areas of the world but originate in Central America and some of the Southern States. The fish in the picture is a pregant female and is just under 2 inches long but the males are much smaller.

They are very tolerant of water temperatures and salinity and are not at all fussy making them ideal for being distributed around in an effort to control the insects they are named after.

K9 is a lot more than just Dr Who's robot doggy friend

Science fiction fans will no doubt know all about K9 the robot dog companion of Dr Who but in Tenerife it is also the name of a struggling animal shelter and rescue service and the only one of its kind on the island.

Here is how K9 describes itself:

Our aim is to make Tenerife a happier place for animals to live. We are doing this by rescuing injured, sick, ill-treated and abandoned cats and dogs. We run extensive re-homing and neutering programs. We are a purely voluntary organisation and rely solely on donations from the public. We receive no official funding. At the moment we are in temporary kennels where we can house around 70 dogs. We are in the process of building a larger and more efficient refuge but desperately need funds to complete this project.

Please visit their website and if you can help in any way the K9 staff and the dogs and cats would be extremely grateful.

K9 are online at:

ATAN care about wildlife and the environment & show the other side of Tenerife

Tenerife, although an incredibly beautiful island with an amazing and unique flora and fauna and range of natural habitats is under extreme threat from development, building, road-making, industrialisation and pollution. ATAN are an organisation who focus on and show the other side of Tenerife and the threats to its wildlife, countryside and culture. Their site is invaluable to anyone who cares about the natural world and is concerned about ecology and conservation. Please click on the image below to visit their site.