Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs is an inlet of the Gulf of Cazones located on the southern coast of Cuba. By 1910, it was included in Santa Clara Province, and then instead to Las Villas Province by 1961, but in 1976, it was reassigned to Matanzas Province, when the original six provinces of Cuba were re-organized into 14 new Provinces of Cuba.
The bay is historically important for the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961. The area is a site known for its diving, with an abundance of marine fauna, e.g. 30 species of sponges belonging to 19 families and 21 genera, to be found in the bay.
Etymology
In Cuban Spanish, cochinos may also mean the queen triggerfish, which inhabit coral reefs in Bahía de Cochinos, not swine.Geography
This bay is approximately south of Jagüey Grande, west of the city of Cienfuegos, and southeast from the capital city Havana. On the western side of the bay, coral reefs border the main Zapata Swamp, part of the Zapata Peninsula. On the eastern side, beaches border margins of firm ground with mangroves and extensive areas of swampland to the north and east. At the north end of the bay, the village of Buena Ventura is adjacent to Playa Larga. southeast of that, Playa Girón at the village of Girón, named after the notorious French pirate Gilberto Giron.History
Playa Girón and Playa Larga were the landing sites for seaborne forces of armed Cuban exiles in the Bay of Pigs Invasion, an American CIA-sponsored attempt to overthrow the new government of Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro in April 1961.According to Fidel Castro's former bodyguard, the late Juan Reinaldo Sánchez, Castro lived in great luxury and had a private island called Cayo Piedra in the Bay of Pigs, replete with "mansions, guest houses, a heliport, dolphinarium, turtle lagoon, his luxury yacht Aquarama – a gift from Leonid Brezhnev – and deep-sea fishing speedboat".
Diving
The Bay of Pigs is a relatively quiet site for diving. Dive centers exist in Playa Larga, Playa Girón and Caleta Buena. Twelve dive sites in the bay display excellent visibility of, an average water temperature of in December and in July. Walls of coral, caverns and a variety of fish, coral and sponges can be found in the Bay of Pigs.The Cueva de los Peces, with depth the deepest cenote of Cuba, is located at south of Playa Larga.
Biodiversity
Surrounding the Bay of Pigs, the endemic wormlizards Amphisbaena barbouri and A. cubana have been noted. The following marine species have been registered along the eastern coast of the Bay of Pigs:| Group | Common name | Scientific name | Image | Notes |
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | blue chromis | Chromis cyanea | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | blue tang | Acanthurus coeruleus | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | bluehead wrasse | Thalassoma bifasciatum | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | striped parrotfish | Scarus iserti | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | beau gregory | Stegastes leucostictus | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | bicolor damselfish | Stegastes partitus | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | boga | Inermia vittata | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | Colon goby | Coryphopterus dicrus | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | creole wrasse | Clepticus parrae | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | longfin damselfish | Stegastes diencaeus | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | masked goby | Coryphopterus personatus | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | threespot damselfish | Stegastes planifrons | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | yellowhead wrasse | Halichoeres garnoti | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | French grunt | Haemulon flavolineatum | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | ocean surgeon | Acanthurus bahianus | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | sergeant major | Abudefduf saxatilis | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | slippery dick | Halichoeres bivittatus | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | yellowtail snapper | Ocyurus chrysurus | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | bar jack | Caranx ruber | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | barred hamlet | Hypoplectrus puella | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | brown chromis | Chromis multilineata | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | foureye butterflyfish | Chaetodon capistratus | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | graysby | Epinephelus cruentatus | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | longjaw squirrelfish | Holocentrus marianus | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | redband parrotfish | Sparisoma aurofrenatum | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | royal gramma | Gramma loreto | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | stoplight parrotfish | Sparisoma viride | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | tomtate grunt | Haemulon aurolineatum | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | white grunt | Haemulon plumierii | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | porgies | Calamus sp. | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | banded butterflyfish | Chaetodon striatus | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | buffalo trunkfish | Lactophrys trigonus | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | flat needlefish | Ablennes hians | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | glasseye | Heteropriacanthus cruentatus | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | longspine squirrelfish | Holocentrus rufus | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | plate fish | Bothus lunatus | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | red lionfish | Pterois volitans | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | spotfin butterflyfish | Chaetodon ocellatus | ||
| :Category:Fish of Cuba|Fish | trumpetfish | Aulostomus maculatus | ||
| Sponges | azure vase sponge | Callyspongia plicifera | ||
| Sponges | yellow tube sponge | Aplysina fistularis | ||
| Sponges | green finger sponge | Iotrochota birotulata | ||
| Sponges | orange icing sponge | Mycale laevis | ||
| Sponges | pink vase sponge | Niphates digitalis | ||
| Sponges | row pore rope sponge | Aplysina cauliformis | ||
| Sponges | touch-me-not sponge | Neofibularia nolitangere | ||
| Sponges | demosponges | Cliona sp. | ||
| Sponges | Cliona aprica | |||
| Sponges | Cliona delitrix | |||
| Sponges | Cliona varians | |||
| Sponges | Aiolochroia crassa | |||
| Sponges | Ectyoplasia ferox | |||
| Sponges | Ircinia felix | |||
| Sponges | Mycale laxissima | |||
| Sponges | Plakortis angulospiculatus | |||
| Sponges | Scopalina ruetzleri | |||
| Sponges | Smenospongia aurea | |||
| Sponges | Spirastrella coccinea | |||
| Corals | boulder brain coral | Colpophyllia natans | ||
| Corals | Caribbean sea whip | Plexaura homomalla | ||
| Corals | elkhorn coral | Acropora palmata | ||
| Corals | great star coral | Montastraea cavernosa | ||
| Corals | maze coral | Meandrina meandrites | ||
| Corals | purple sea fan | Gorgonia ventalina | ||
| Corals | sea ginger | Millepora alcicornis | ||
| Crustaceans | Caribbean spiny lobster | Panulirus argus | ||
| Echinoderms | donkey dung sea cucumber | Holothuria mexicana | ||
| Mollusks | queen conch | Lobatus gigas |