Colombia’s marine biodiversity: The neglected side of a megadiverse country

Despite being one of the three most biodiverse countries in the world, knowledge about Colombia's marine biodiversity (5,896 species) is limited compared to the species recorded in the continental area (71,866). This chapter focuses on understanding the limited development of marine biodiversity in an area with two different oceans and biogeographic provinces, the Caribbean Sea and the eastern tropical Pacific, with all tropical marine ecosystems, upwelling zones and depths of up to 6,000 meters. There are notable information gaps in marine biodiversity in microscopic organisms from meiofauna (<0.5 mm) to microorganisms and in general to deepsea environments. Despite these restrictions, Colombia has protected about 37% of its territorial sea, but these areas lack complete marine biodiversity inventories. Although marine biodiversity offers numerous possibilities for Colombia, there are enormous challenges for its development, especially in terms of collaboration between institutions and access to open data.