What is Lençóis Maranhenses National Park?
[[File:Os lencois.jpg|thumb|300px| Dunes, Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, Maranhão: one of the most unusual [[habitats]] on Earth]] [[Image:Brazil-Lençois-Maranhenses.jpg|280px|thumb|The Lençóis Maranhenses]] The '''Lençóis Maranhenses National Park''' (Parque Nacional dos Lençóis Maranhenses) is a [[national park]] in [[Maranhão]], northeastern [[Brazil]]. It is an area with low, flat, occasionally [[flood]]ed land, between large [[sand dunes]]. It is about {{convert|1500|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}. Despite abundant rain, it has almost no [[vegetation]]. With large, white, sweeping dunes, Lençóis Maranhenses looks like a typical [[desert]], but in fact it is not one. Being just outside the [[Amazon Basin]], the region gets a regular rainy season in first half of the year. When it rains, fresh water collects in the valleys between sand dunes. The water is prevented from sinking down by a layer of rock underneath the sand. This results in blue, green and black [[lagoons]] surrounded by the desert-like sand. The lagoons are at their fullest between July and September. When the lagoons are full, they are interconnected to rivers such as the [[Rio Negro (Amazon)|Rio Negro]]. From the river, large numbers of fish arrive. One [[species]] of fish, however, is resident. The wolf fish or tiger fish (''[[Hoplias malabaricus]]'') stays dormant in the mud and moist areas after most of the water has [[evaporation|evaporated]], re-emerging during the next rainy season.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/07/brazil-dunes/ribeiro-text/2 |title=Brazil Dunes - National Geographic Magazine, National Geographic Magazine - NGM.com |access-date=2014-05-31}} Subscription required.</ref> == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:National parks in South America]] [[Category:Habitats]]