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The Rocas Atoll (
) is an atoll in the Atlantic Ocean, belonging to the Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Norte. It is located approximately
Description
The oval atoll is
long and
There is a lighthouse of the Brazilian Navy that has been in operation and maintained since the 1960s, at the Northern end of Farol Bay. In its vicinity is a derelict lighthouse from 1933.
The atoll is a wildlife sanctuary, and in 2001 was designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Numerous turtles, sharks, dolphins and birds live in the area. The atoll consists mainly of coral and red algae. The coral ring is almost closed, with a
wide channel on the North side and a much narrower channel on the West side.
A biological reserve, it is currently used solely for scientific research.
Due to their remote location, the islands remain largely undisturbed by the human activities. On the other hand, it also limits the research's access to the islands and few studies have been developed in this atoll. The entomological fauna from Atol das Rocas was already recorded.[Almeida CE, Marchon-Silva V V, Ribeiro R, Serpa-Filho A, Almeida JR, Costa J. 2000. Entomological fauna from Reserva Biológica do Atol das Rocas, RN, Brazil: I. Morphospecies composition. Rev Bras Biol. 60(2):291-298.]
Pop culture
The atoll was the site of a missile attack on a Cobra satellite communications tracking station and robotics storage center, in the G.I. Joe comic title from Marvel Comics.[Trimpe, Herb (1991). "Double Trouble", G.I. Joe A Real American Hero, Vol. 1, No. 119.]
See also
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Rocas_Atoll". The list of authors you can find on this page.
