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Incredibly, yes. This is the marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus), an animal only found in the Galápagos Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean, about a thousand kilometers from the coast of Ecuador. It is estimated that there are between 200 thousand and 300 thousand individuals of the species in the archipelago, concentrated mainly in the coastal regions. Iguanas were one of the first inhabitants of the Galápagos, the islands visited by the English naturalist Charles Darwin in the 19th century and which served as the basis for the formulation of the theory of evolution of species. Scientists believe that this iguana was initially terrestrial, but, due to lack of food, it began to make forays into the sea. Today his favorite dish is seaweed. Females and young usually feed on the reefs, but males are capable of diving for about ten minutes, reaching more than 10 meters in depth.
As it is a cold-blooded animal – that is, it does not have mechanisms to regulate its body temperature, which varies according to the environment -, the marine iguana sunbathes before diving until it reaches a temperature of around 36 ºC. Only then does it venture out to sea, as the cold water can drop its temperature by 10°C, reducing its ability to move and leaving it vulnerable to predators.