The Islas San Benito lie in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

off the west coast of the

Mexican state A Mexican State (), officially the Free and Sovereign State (), is a constituent federative entity of Mexico according to the Constitution of Mexico. Currently there are 31 states, each with its own constitution, government, state governor, a ...

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

, 25 km west of

Cedros Island Cedros Island (''Isla de Cedros'', "island of cedars" in Spanish (language), Spanish) is an island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the state of Baja California, Mexico. The dry and rocky island had a population of 1,350 in 2005 and has an area o ...

. They are part of the Cedros Island ''delegación'', a subdivision of Ensenada (municipality),

. The group consists of three barren islands, with a total area of 3.899 km², and is surrounded by rocks and patches of kelp. The

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2001 recorded a population of two on ''Benito del Oeste'' (West Benito); the other islands are uninhabited.

Geography and ecology

''Benito del Oeste'' (West Benito, 2.6 km²) is the westernmost and largest island of the group. It appears as a plateau with a mound rising 600 ft (202 m) high near the center. A

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

tower, 4 m high, stands in the southern part of the island. The main lighthouse, a prominent, 17 m high tower with a dwelling, stands near the northwest extremity of the island. Rocas Pinaculo, two steep-to rocks, lie 1.6 km west of Benito del Oeste. ''Benito del Centro'' (Central Benito, 0.4 km²) and ''Benito del Este'' (East Benito, 0.9 km²) , the other two islands, lie close east of Benito del Oeste and are separated by ''Canal de Peck'', a deep passage just 200 ft (c. 65 m) wide. Benito del Este is characterized by four well-defined hills up to 421 ft (c.140 m) high. Benito del Centro is low and flat with a hill 82 ft (25 m) high rising near its eastern end. The vegetation consists mainly of low

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

s and

herb Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distingu ...

s as well as some large

cacti A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...

('' Cylindropuntia prolifera'', '' C. ramosissima''). There are few land animals and no native mammals. Birds are moderately abundant due to the islands' barrenness, but Cassin's auklet is rather plentiful at breeding time.

Endemism

Due to the islands' remoteness, several

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

have evolved here: Animals: * San Benito side-blotched lizard, '' Uta stansburiana stellata'' * San Benito house finch, ''Carpodacus mexicanus mcgregori'' –

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

:Disappeared c. the 1940s, mainly due to overhunting by biological specimen collectors. * San Benito sparrow, '' Passerculus rostratus sanctorum'' (or '' Passerculus sandwichensis sanctorum'') Plants: * '' Cryptantha patula'' – only on West Benito * '' Dudleya linearis'' – only on West Benito * '' Hemizonia streetsii'' – West and East Benito * '' Malva pacifica'' – all islands * ''

Mammillaria neopalmeri ''Mammillaria'' is one of the largest genera in the cactus family (biology), family (Cactaceae), with currently 200 known species and variety (biology), varieties recognized. Most of the mammillarias are Native species, native to Mexico, while s ...

'' – West and East Benito * ''

Senecio benedictus ''Senecio'' is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family (Asteraceae) that includes ragworts and groundsels. Variously circumscribed taxonomically, the genus ''Senecio'' is one of the largest genera of flowering plants. Description Mo ...

'' – only on West Benito

References

{{coord, 28, 18, 12, N, 115, 35, 24, W, type:isle_source:dewiki, display=title Islands of Ensenada Municipality Islands of Baja California . Uninhabited islands of Mexico Islands of the Pacific Ocean