--- title: Footage Galapagos Marine Iguana description: It looks like Godzilla's baby cousin canonical: https://time.com/4292374/galapagos-marine-iguana-video/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-13T20:21:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:31:35.445Z og:title: See Stunning Footage of a Galapagos Marine Iguana Swimming og:description: It looks like Godzilla's baby cousin og:url: https://time.com/4292374/galapagos-marine-iguana-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Stunning Footage of a Galapagos Marine Iguana Swimming twitter:description: It looks like Godzilla's baby cousin twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # See Stunning Footage of a Galapagos Marine Iguana by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 13, 2016 8:21 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 13, 2016 8:21 PM UTC If you have ever found yourself wondering what Godzilla looked like while he was under the sea, this video of a Marine Iguana swimming in the ocean might give you a hint. Recent footage captured by Steve Winkworth while scuba diving at Cabo Marshall in Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands show that the native iguanas live up to [Charles Darwin’s nickname](http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2016-2-march-april/critter/marine-iguanas-imps-darkness) of the “imps of darkness.” In the video, they prove they are adept and graceful swimmers. The iguanas are simultaneously beautiful and slightly creepy, though part of the unsettling feeling of watching them feed on algae may come from the soundtrack composed by Kevin MacLeod. Like Godzilla, the iguanas are constantly threatened. They are protected throughout the Galapagos, and are considered vulnerable to extinction. \[H/T [CNN](http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016/04/12/galapagos-marine-iguana-up-close-orig-vstan.cnn)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4292374/galapagos-marine-iguana-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4292374/galapagos-marine-iguana-video/"},"headline":"See Stunning Footage of a Galapagos Marine Iguana","datePublished":"2016-04-13T20:21:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:31:35.445Z","description":"It looks like Godzilla's baby cousin","url":"https://time.com/4292374/galapagos-marine-iguana-video/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4292374/galapagos-marine-iguana-video/","name":"See Stunning Footage of a Galapagos Marine Iguana"}}]}] ```