The level of legal protection of these species has been increased, as set out in the Natural Heritage and Biodiversity Law for those species of fauna and flora that should be the object of special attention and require active conservation measures

The Government has included 27 new species in the List of Wild Species under Special Protection and the Spanish Catalogue of Endangered Species. The level of legal protection of these species has been increased, as set out in the Natural Heritage and Biodiversity Law for those species of fauna and flora that, due to their ecological value, uniqueness, rarity, or degree of threat, or because they are included in international treaties or community regulations, must be the object of special attention and require active conservation measures.

Marine species

In relation to marine species, the Mediterranean populations of the black sponge, seven species of coral (black, branched black, orange-black, Mediterranean black, hard and fragile white coral and weak corallite), two gorgonians (fan and candelabra) and the Mediterranean madrepora are included in the List. These invertebrates are of high ecological interest because over the years their large colonies form complex habitats that are very important as a refuge for many other marine species.

Also included in the List is the olive sea turtle, a species present in the Canary Islands and also mentioned in the Mediterranean; the Atlantic Cory’s shearwater, now also in the Mediterranean, and the Mediterranean population of the Bengal tern.

For its part, and continuing with marine species, the “endangered” Catalogue includes the common pen shell, and in the “Vulnerable” category, the Canary Islands populations of three species of marine algae (the yellow, red and black mujo), the latter endemic to these islands.

Three species of sharks are also included: the angelshark, the angelfish and the spiny angelshark, all of which are “endangered”.

Finally, the Cuvier’s beaked whale is included in the Catalogue in the “Vulnerable” category, a species of calf adapted to living at great depths that has suffered a significant population reduction in recent years, so it is necessary to increase its protection.

Terrestrial species

Included in the “endangered” Catalogue is the Iberian sulphur butterfly, a rare butterfly exclusive to Spain located only in two small and isolated populations (Los Monegros, Aragón and Hoya de Baza, Andalusia); and the Batueca lizard, one of the rarest continental reptiles in Europe, of which it is estimated that no more than 1,500 individuals survive and only in Las Batuecas and the Peña de Francia (Salamanca-Cáceres). Also included in the Catalogue, but in the “vulnerable” category, is the Leonese lizard.

In the group of mammals, the Cabrera vole, a rodent exclusive to the Iberian Peninsula, which lives in low meadows of grasses and reeds, is included in the Catalogue in the “vulnerable” category, a type of habitat in sharp decline due to the increase in the intensification of agriculture and the frequent location of infrastructures.

Finally, in order to comply with the provisions of the European Union Habitats Directive, all the populations of the Iberian wolf existing in Spain south of the Duero are included in the List.