Critically EndangeredAngelshark
Squatina squatina
Europe
The Maltese archipelago is a block of limestone in the middle of the Sicilian Channel, almost without permanent fresh water or original forest, covered by garrigue, Mediterranean steppe and spectacular cliffs such as those of Dingli and Ta' Ċenċ. That aridity does not prevent it from being a key point in Mediterranean biogeography: its position between Europe and Africa makes it an obligatory stopover for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds in spring and autumn, and its cliffs hold seabird colonies of international importance, above all of Yelkouan and Scopoli's shearwater. The uninhabited islets, such as Filfla, keep isolated and differentiated populations of Maltese wall lizard. Underwater, the clarity and the submerged caves shelter groupers, moray eels and Posidonia meadows. The country has played a very visible part in the European debate on the hunting and trapping of migratory birds.
National animal: The blue rock thrush, or merill, is the national bird; the Pharaoh Hound is the national dog
The uninhabited islet of Filfla, a rock of less than a quarter of a square kilometre, served for decades as a practice target for the Royal Navy. Despite that, it retains its own subspecies of Maltese wall lizard, dark and almost black in colour, which exists only there, as well as one of the most important European storm petrel colonies in the Mediterranean. Today it is a strict reserve and landing is forbidden.
Malta hosts a significant share of the world population of Yelkouan shearwater. Rat control on the breeding cliffs and the regulation of spring hunting have been the pillars of its seabird conservation.
Rdum tal-Madonna at nightfall between April and July for the shearwaters returning to the colony. Buskett and Għadira in September for the passage of migrating raptors. The waters of Gozo in summer for dolphins.
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Same region: Southern Europe
Same region: Southern Europe
Same region: Southern Europe
Same region: Southern Europe
296 species found
Based on what we already know about Malta.
