SPECIAL AREA OF CONSERVATION (ZEC) – TENO-RASCA
The area called Teno-Rasca Marine Strip is located in the western sector of the island of Tenerife. It covers an area of 69,489.68 hectares and bathes the coastline of the municipalities of Buenavista del Norte, Santiago del Teide, Guía de Isora, Adeje and Arona.
This space has been declared since September 2011 as a Special Conservation Area (ZEC), a figure contained in the Natura 2000 Network whose purpose is to ensure the long-term survival of the most threatened species and natural habitats in Europe, helping to stop the loss of biodiversity caused by the adverse impact of human activities.
The ZEC is managed in such a way as to guarantee the protection and conservation of the types of natural habitats and species of community interest present in the space, adopting the necessary conservation measures to achieve a sustainable balance between the development of uses and activities in the area and the conservation of the natural values it contains.
Our most common marine wildlife
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Bottle nosed dolphin, Pilot whale
Bottlenose dolphin (tursiops truncatus) 
It is the most well-known species of dolphin and can be easily found a short distance from the coast of Tenerife. Its average size is 2.7 meters for males and 2.5 for females, although the oldest exceed 3 meters. They live in groups of 10 to 30 individuals and have a dark gray color on the back that degrades towards the lower areas.
Pilot Whale (Globicephala macrorinchus) 
Also known as “Pilot Whale” or “Short-finned Calderón”, it belongs to the family of dolphins. It is a cetacean with teeth (odontoceto) and its whale denomination is due to its size: they can exceed 6 meters in length and weigh between 3 and 4 tons. It is the easiest to find in a sighting trip in Tenerife.
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Occasional #1
Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis) 
This species is characterized by the specks that cover most of its skin in adulthood. They form large groups and have a very active behavior. They can be seen more frequently from autumn to the end of spring. Weight: 60-80 kg. Size: up to 2.3 meters.
Rugged tooth dolphin (Steno bredanensis)
The striae that it presents in its teeth and its elongated skull are the most representative characteristics of this species. It is a darker dolphin than the bottle nosed and has clearer spots. They are distributed in groups of 6 to 10 individuals. Weight: up to 150 kg. Size: up to 2.7 meters.
Brydes whale (Balaenoptera brydei)
It is similar in appearance to the northern wright whale, although the Brydes whale is smaller and more robust and presents a unique feature in the Family of bard whales, which are the three careen or dorsal crests instead of a central one situated on the head. The length in males is roughly 13.7 m and in females 14.5 m, with a maximum length of 15 m. The back has a dark blue to metallic gray color, with lighter flanks and clear throat and belly.
Striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba)
Thanks to its bluish coloration and the stripes (lists) that go from the eyes to almost the tail, this dolphin is very easy to identify. Sometimes it is elusive with the boats, although it is a very fast swimmer who likes to jump out of the water. Weight: 100-130 kg. Size: 2.7 meters
Risso´s dolphin (Grampus griseus)
It is morphologically very similar to the tropical pilot whale, but it differs in the gray color of its skin (almost white in some adult specimens) and the contrast with the dorsal fin, which is still dark. Weight: 300-600 kg.
Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus)
This species is the largest of the odontocetes (tooth whales), since it equals the bard whales in size. It emphasizes its gigantic head, its furred and dark skin and its small dorsal fin. The sperm whale can dive of more than an hour to find food and more than 2,000 meters down. It is more frequent to see them in spring. Weight: 15-60 tons. Size: 11-18 meters. Seasonal / migratory: At some time of the year
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Rarely Seen
Blainville’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris)
is a species of cetacean odontoceto of the Ziphidae family. It is the zifio species with the largest and most studied territory of the Mesoplodon genus. Its name, “densirostris”, means “dense face”. Its body is robust, but less wide than that of other whales of the genus. The head is flat frontally, and its lower jaw is arched, forming a moderately long beak. Adult males are easily recognizable, as they have two teeth protruding from their mouths, which are sometimes infested with cirriped crustaceans.
The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
it is a species of cetacean, mycenae of the Balaenopteridae family. Its average size is between 24 and 27 m in length and weigh between 100 and 120 t, although there are records of almost 30 m long and 173 t of weight, that make it the largest animal on the planet Earth, not only in the present but also the biggest that is known in history.
Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) 
is a species of cetacean, mycetite of the Balaenopteridae family (rorquals). It is one of the largest fin whales, adults have a length of 12 to 16 m and an approximate weight of 36 000 kg. The species has a distinctive body shape, with long pectoral fins and knotty heads. It is an acrobatic animal that often propels on the surface to then hit the water.
Killer whale (Orcinus orca) 
It is a species of cetacean odontoceto belonging to the family Delphinidae (oceanic dolphins), which inhabits all the oceans of the planet. It is the largest species of dolphin and the only existing current recognized within the genus Orcinus.
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Vistas esporádicas #2
Common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) 
The common dolphin is present in most of the seas of the planet. It is easily identifiable by the special yellowing of the flanks. They can be seen more likely in winter. Weight: 80-130 kg. Size: up to 2.5 meters.
Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus)
The most distinctive characteristic of the fin whale is its coloration. The body dorsally and laterally is black or dark gray-brown, gradually turning white towards the ventral area. However, the color in the head is asymmetrical. The right side of the face is light gray and the jaw white, like the rest of the coloration of the throat and belly. The left half of the face is darker, with the jaw and part of the throat dark gray. It presents a series of transverse discolorations on the back behind the head, the most apparent with an inverted V shape and more marked on the right side.
The loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta)
It is an oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the Cheloniidae family. The average loggerhead is about 90 cm (35 in) long when fully developed, although larger specimens up to 280 cm (110 in) have been discovered. The adult common loggerhead weighs approximately 135 kg (298 lb), and the largest specimens weigh more than 450 kg (1,000 lb). The skin varies from yellow to brown, and the carapace is typically reddish brown. No external differences in sex are seen until the turtle becomes an adult, the most obvious difference is that adult males have thicker tails and shorter plastrons (lower shells) than females.
The green turtle (Chelonia mydas)
also known as green turtle, black turtle (sea) or Pacific green turtle, is a large sea turtle of the Cheloniidae family. It is the only species in the Chelonia genus. Its range extends through tropical and subtropical seas around the world, with two distinct populations in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but it is also found in the Indian Ocean. The common name comes from the generally green fat that lies beneath its shell . The shells of these turtles are olive to black.
Hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata)
it is a critically endangered sea turtle that belongs to the Cheloniidae family. It is the only existing species in the genus Eretmochelys. The species has a worldwide distribution, with Atlantic and Indo-Pacific subspecies: the appearance of the hawksbill turtle is similar to that of other sea turtles. In general, it has a crushed body shape, a protective shell and fin-shaped limbs, adapted to swim in the open ocean. E. imbricata is easily distinguished from other sea turtles by its sharp, curved beak with a prominent tomium and the sawing appearance of the margins of its shell. The tortoiseshell shells change slightly in color, depending on the temperature of the water. While this turtle lives part of its life in the open ocean, it spends more time in shallow lagoons and coral reefs.
The leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
sometimes called leatherback turtle or tanned turtle or simply luth, it is the largest of all living turtles and is the fourth most modern reptile behind three crocodiles. It is the only living species of the genus Dermochelys and family Dermochelyidae. It can be easily differentiated from other modern sea turtles by its lack of bone shell, hence its name. Instead, its shell is covered by skin and oily flesh.
The girl pardela (Puffinus assimilis)
It is a small bird of the family of petrels or skates (Procellariidae). It is sometimes called pardela girl from the south, to distinguish it from the pardela chica del norte (Puffinus baroli), with which it previously formed the same species.
The European storm petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus)
It is a species of bird of the Hydrobatidae family of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. It is the only species of the genus Hydrobates. It is a pelagic bird the size of a sparrow, with dark plumage, except for some white markings next to the tail and under the wings. It feeds on small fish, zooplankton, crustaceans, squid, jellyfish and carrion. In spite of its size it is a long-lived bird (like two other members of its family) with an average of 11 years of life but that can live up to 33 years.
The Atlantic Shearwater or Canarian Shearwater (Calonectris borealis)
is a species of bird procelariforme of the family Procellariidae own of the Atlantic and its proximities. Previously it was considered a subspecies of the gray shearwater (Calonectris diomedea). The name of the genus Calonectris derives from the classical Greek kalos, “Good” and nectris, “swimmer”, while the specific name borealis is from the Latin “north”. It is a seabird that spends most of the year offshore and breeds in the northern islands of Macaronesia. It feeds mainly on squid and fish, which it fishes by plunging up to 15 meters deep. It is a large pardela, with the upper parts of brown tones, as its name indicates, while its lower parts are white, except the edges of its long wings that are brown
The osprey (Pandion haliaetus) 
also known as halieto, guincho or sparrow hawk, is a species of bird accipitriforme of the family Pandionidae. It is a bird of prey of average size, that appears in all the continents, except in Antarctica, although in South America it is only non-nesting migrant. Some classifications place it as the only member of the Pandion genus, while others classify it as a second species within this genus, Pandion cristatus.