The Miskito Cays (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

: Cayos Miskitos) are an

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

of small

cays A cay ( ), also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island on the surface of a coral reef. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans, including in the Caribbean and on the Great ...

and

reefs A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition of sand or wave eros ...

with an area of 27 km² located off

Mosquito Coast The Mosquito Coast, also known as Mosquitia, is a historical and Cultural area, geo-cultural region along the western shore of the Caribbean Sea in Central America, traditionally described as extending from Cabo Camarón, Cape Camarón to the C ...

in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

exclusive economic zones An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including e ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

and

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

. They are part of the

Gracias a Dios Department Gracias a Dios (; "Thanks to God" or "Thank God") is one of the 18 departments (''departamentos'') into which Honduras is divided. The departmental capital is Puerto Lempira; until 1975 it was Brus Laguna. Etymology The department is named in ...

in Honduras and the

North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region The North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region is one of two autonomous regions in Nicaragua. It was created along with the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region by the Autonomy Statute of 7 September 1987 through a division of the former Zela ...

in Nicaragua. The Miskito Cays are composed of 76 formations that include

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...

cay A cay ( ), also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island on the surface of a coral reef. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans, including in the Caribbean and on the Grea ...

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine (ocean), marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four Family (biology), families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and ...

beds, and

islet An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...

s, of which 12 of the formations are covered with

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plants and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular Taxon, taxa, life forms, structure, Spatial ecology, spatial extent, or any other specific Botany, botanic ...

and consequently form

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

s which are lined with white sand beaches. In Nicaragua, the Miskito Cay (Cayo Miskito), also known as Cayo Mayor, is the largest and most important cay located in the center of the archipelago measuring 37 km². Other main islands are Maras Cay, Nasa Cay, and Morrison Denis Cay. The Miskito Cays Biological Reserve is one of 78

protected areas of Nicaragua The protected areas of Nicaragua are areas that have natural beauty or significance and are protected by Nicaragua. Nicaragua has 78 protected areas that cover 22,422 km2, about 17.3% of the nations landmass. The National System of Protected Area ...

, it was declared a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

in 1991. The cays, along with a stretch of the adjacent mainland coast, have been designated an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

References

Caribbean islands of Nicaragua Protected areas of Nicaragua Ramsar sites in Nicaragua Important Bird Areas of the Caribbean Important Bird Areas of Nicaragua North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region Uninhabited islands of Nicaragua {{Nicaragua-protected-area-stub