The only penguin occurring naturally north of the equator, tied to cold upwelling.
The only penguin occurring naturally north of the equator, and the smallest of the banded penguins. Restricted to the Galapagos and concentrated on Isabela and Fernandina, where the Equatorial Undercurrent upwells and keeps the water cold enough to support them.
Underwater they are fast and erratic and usually seen hunting small schooling fish in the shallows. Encounters are brief. Difficulty is given as 3, which reflects that this is a matter of diving the western islands at all rather than of searching within them.
The population is small — in the low thousands — and tracks ENSO closely, falling sharply in strong El Niño years when upwelling is suppressed and the fish leave.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.