The Tropical Eastern Pacific is one of the twelve marine realms that cover the coastal waters and

continental shelves A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...

of the world's oceans. The Tropical Eastern Pacific extends along the Pacific Coast of the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

, from the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula in the north to northern

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

in the south. It is bounded on the north by the Temperate Northern Pacific realm, and on the south by the

Temperate South America Temperate South America is a biogeography, biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the temperate and subtropical waters of South America, including both the Pacific Ocean, Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coasts of the continent a ...

realm. It includes a number of

oceanic islands 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 ...

and oceanic island groups like the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...

, Revillagigedo Islands,

Cocos Island Cocos Island () is a volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean administered by Costa Rica, approximately southwest of the Costa Rican mainland. It constitutes the 11th of the 15 districts of Puntarenas Canton of the Puntarenas Province, Province of ...

, and Clipperton Island. Clipperton has been labelled as a meeting point between the

Oceanian realm The Oceanian realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms and is unique in not including any continental land mass. It has the smallest land area of any of the List of terrestrial ecoregions (WWF), WWF realms. This realm includes the islands ...

and the Tropical Eastern Pacific realm. The Galápagos Islands are also believed to have much higher percentages of Indo-West Pacific species in their marine faunas when compared to the continental American coasts. A 2018 study revealed interconnectivity of species between the

Line Islands The Line Islands, Teraina Islands or Equatorial Islands () are a chain of 11 atolls (with partly or fully enclosed lagoons, except Vostok and Jarvis) and coral islands (with a surrounding reef) in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Hawa ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and Clipperton, as well as interconnectivity between the Galápagos Islands and

Marquesas Islands The Marquesas Islands ( ; or ' or ' ; Marquesan language, Marquesan: ' (North Marquesan language, North Marquesan) and ' (South Marquesan language, South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcano, volcanic islands in ...

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

. The study identified the Northern Galápagos Islands as a "critical stepping-stone connecting the Central Pacific and Eastern Pacific." The WWF and Nature Conservancy divide the Tropical Eastern Pacific realm into two marine provinces, Tropical East Pacific and Galápagos, which are further subdivided into marine ecoregions.

Ecoregions

* Tropical East Pacific Marine Province ** Revillagigedos ** Clipperton ** Mexican Tropical Pacific ** Chiapas–Nicaragua ** Nicoya **

** Panama Bight **

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

* Galápagos Marine Province ** Northern Galápagos Islands ** Eastern Galápagos Islands ** Western Galápagos Islands

References

{{Biomes Marine realms Pacific Ocean