| Misteriosa Bank Placer de la Misteriosa | |
| Coordinates: | 18.8°N -137°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Sea |
| Subdivision Name: | Caribbean |
| Subdivision Type1: | Country |
| Subdivision Type2: | Department |
| Subdivision Name2: | Bay Islands Department |
| Subdivision Type3: | Minimum depth |
| Subdivision Name3: | 20 m |
| Subdivision Type4: | Geology |
| Subdivision Name4: | Cayman Ridge |
| Subdivision Type5: | Special clause |
| Subdivision Name5: | Annex B, commercial fishing for domestic trade Cayman Islands (authorized: Lutjanus campechanus and Epinephelus lanceolatus; prohibited: crustaceans and Mollusca), annual fishing quota 25 MT, fishing vessels ≤100 ft, under established regulations. |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Area Total Km2: | 322 |
The Misteriosa Bank (es|Placer de la Misteriosa)[1] is a submerged bank or atoll in the Caribbean Sea, located at 18.8°N -137°W – approximately equidistant from Mexico (380abbr=onNaNabbr=on), Honduras (345abbr=onNaNabbr=on) and Cuba (320abbr=onNaNabbr=on).
The Misteriosa Bank is 39km (24miles) long and 3to wide. Its area is 322km2.[2] Immediately south of it is Rosario Bank. The closest piece of land is the Swan Islands, Honduras, 140km (90miles) to the south and separated from it by the more than 5000adj=midNaNadj=mid Cayman Trough. The reported depth is 20m (70feet) on the average[3] or up to 22m (72feet), with depths of 14m-18mm (46feet-59feetm) along the rim,[2] or 12.8m-49mm (42feet-161feetm).[4] It is part of the Cayman Ridge.[5] [6]
It is part of a cluster of seamounts of the Cayman mountain range contained in Honduras (Misteriosa, Rosario, Maud, Albion and Viciosas).
The bank was first reported by Spanish navigator Tomás Nicolás de Villa in April 1787.[1]
In the 19th century, Charles Darwin mentioned the Misteriosa Bank as an example of the sharply descending coral reef in his book Coral Reefs:[7]
Currently, a buoy has been anchored to the seabed of this feature. It appears to have been claimed by the Principality of New Utopia. The placing of the buoy was filmed by a German film crew and broadcast by Arte television on satellite. New Utopia maintains no state claims and wants to build a form of micronation on top of it, using concrete blocks.