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Here's the beautiful sight of the marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus Cristatus), which is found nowhere but the Galápagos Islands. It's the only ocean-dwelling lizard in the world that can forage in the sea.

Although it might resemble a ferocious dragon or a certain fictional lizard, the creature is actually a harmless herbivore – one of the few reptiles to be a strict vegetarian, mainly feeding on algae and seaweed. It spends most of its time along the shore sunbathing on rocks, trying to maintain its body temperature in the warmth of the sun, something that its reptilian cold blood comes in the way of.

In the video above, the lizard does what it does best – looking majestic while coursing through currents and enjoying a nibble of ocean greens.

However, the author of The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin, was not too keen on the species. Although it was the extensive topography of the islands that helped him form his theory of natural selection, this is what he wrote about the marine iguana, "The black lava rocks on the beach are frequented by large (2–3 ft), disgusting clumsy lizards. They are as black as the porous rocks over which they crawl and seek their prey from the sea. I call them 'imps of darkness.'"

Marine iguanas have no natural predators and so haven't developed adequate defences against cats, rats and dogs that might attack their eggs and their young. They are also at risk due to extreme fluctuations in weather. The El Nino causes an increase in ocean temperature, killing off the red and green algae that the iguanas feed on, making them die in great numbers. But they are resilient creatures and in times of famine can shrink so as to eat less than usual.

They currently number in the hundreds of thousands, but their population is vulnerable and their numbers are dropping each year.

Here's a BBC documentary about the lizards showing them take a "suicide dive" into the crushing roar of the ocean in the bid to search for food.

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