Chagwido Island Natural Reserve

Chagwido is an uninhabited group of two islets, Jukdo Island and Wado Island, lying about 2km off the coast at Gosan-ri, Jeju Island. It is the part of Jeju Island first reached by the warm Kuroshio Current, its resident plants and animals are extremely diverse, and it has the strongest subtropical character of any part of Jeju; at depths of 5 to 10m grow large numbers of red algae. Among these red algae are species not yet formally reported in academic circles, including a slender, silky creeping alga, together with Tiffaniella chejuensis, Callithamniella koreana and Amphiroa chejuensis, and species not previously recorded in Korea, such as a comb-patterned weed, a comb-leaf weed and a mock-mulberry weed. Various species of subtropical red algae have also been found here, making the site very important for the study of seaweed distribution. Among the animals, of 13 species of sponge 3 are new records for Korea; of 6 species of echinoderm 1 is a new record; of 15 species of cnidarian 2 species of coral are new records; of 8 species of larger marine animal 1 is a new record; of 12 species of bivalve 9 are new records; and of 17 species of crustacean 4 are new records for Korea. Land life is very sparse, comprising black pine, Jeju sasa bamboo, beach vitex, spindle tree, Korean bramble, silver grass, dayflower and a fern known locally as soegobi, among others. The Chagwido Natural Reserve has beautiful surrounding scenery and is also home to marine species unrecorded elsewhere in Korea and possibly new to science, giving it high biological value. Further unrecorded and new species are likely to be found here in future, and the site holds very important scientific value for the study of marine plant and animal distribution; it is accordingly designated and protected as a natural monument.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jeju City, Jeju

Designation

Natural Monument · 천연기념물