Maldives - Camel Point
Part of the regional summaries: Maldives - Central (Male Atolls / Ari / Vaavu) and Maldives
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Maldives (NOAA CRW virtual station)A dive that opens on a quiet sand plain waiting for mantas before giving way to a lively coral ridge — staghorn and table thickets, giant boulder corals, and anemone-draped rock faces, plus jewel-toned free-living mushroom corals.
މި ފީނުން ފެށެނީ ބޮޑުމަދި (manta) އަށް އިންތިޒާރުކުރާ މަޑު ވެލި ބިމަކުންނެވެ. ދެން، ދިރުން ގިނަ ހިރިގާ ފަރުގެ ރޮނގަކަށް ބަދަލުވެއެވެ: ސްޓެގްހޯން އާއި ޓޭބަލް ހިރިގާ ގަދަކޮށް ހުރި ހިސާބުތައް، ވަރަށް ބޮޑެތި ގަނޑު ހިރިގާ، anemone އިން ނިވާވެފައިވާ ހިލަ ފާރުތައް، އަދި ޖަވާހިރުގެ ކުލައިގެ، މިނިވަންކޮށް އޮންނަ mushroom coral ތައް.
AI translation of this summary; the English is authoritative. (low confidence)
Nine independent survey stations shown with the program’s logo — click one to see how far it is from this site.
19 of the 50 photographs on this page are shown beside the text that discusses them under "Site description" below.
Site description
Setting
A dive of two moods. It starts on a bright sand plain where the divers settle in like spectators — the photographer's captions say it all: "waiting for Mantas," "garden eels" — with only a tantalizing winged shadow passing far out in the blue (e.g., Image 10, Image 24).
General benthic features
Then the point itself takes over: a coral ridge with staghorn and table coral thickets running as far as visibility allows, giant boulder corals rising off the sand, and whole rock faces upholstered in swaying sea anemones (e.g., Image 6, Image 7, Image 8, Image 11, Image 12, Image 13, Image 14, Image 23, Image 25).
Two jewel-toned mushroom corals — free-living discs rimmed in pink and violet — steal the macro show, alongside a giant clam with a dark, pale-rimmed mantle (e.g., Image 15).
Coral cover
- Reference: Claude CV point count (this site's photos)
- Coral cover: 21% — a blind Claude computer-vision point count of 76 of Anderson's edited photographs (20 points per photo; water, fish, and obstructions excluded). Other computer-vision methods are listed in the method table.
Stressors
One branching colony has a large section of clean white skeleton at its margins grading into a fine algal film, recent partial mortality of unclear cause; the rest of the colony and its neighbors keep normal brown tissue (e.g., Image 45).
No crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) or other corallivores were evident.
Fish and other fauna
Around it all, orange anthias smoke off the outcrops and neon fusiliers rush past in mid-water like traffic (e.g., Image 16, Image 18, Image 19, Image 20, Image 21, Image 22).
Comparisons with other data
We found no other surveys at this site as of 2026. Within 5 km, nine independent stations recorded station-year means of 1.0–45% hard coral cover between 1998 and 2017; the nearest, XL Catlin Seaview Survey at transect 37011, 0.90 km away, read 15–21% between 2015 and 2017.
CV model comparison
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A few colony-focused photos raise the mean; the median is the typical photo. No computer-vision method yet estimates coral cover accurately on new images, so treat this as indicative rather than a measurement; it is revised as the methods improve.More info
Other rows are for comparison only and are never averaged. No diver transect exists for these photos, so agreement between rows is not accuracy.| Method | Hard coral cover (%) | Photos (n) ± SE |
|---|---|---|
| In-house DINOv3 | 22.9 | |
| CoralSCOP edited | 25.5 | |
| Claude (edited photos) | 21.4 | n = 76 · SE 1.7 |
The two computer-vision methods agree within 2.6 pp (22.9–25.5%) and read within 4.1 pp of Claude's blind point count (21.4%).
See a more detailed, stand-alone version of this table.
Independent surveys nearby
| Agency / program | Year(s) | Stations / distance | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montefalcone et al. (2020) | 2017 | 1 station, 2.77 km | Records ↓ |
| Reef Check | 1998–2017 | 7 stations, 2.11–4.11 km | Records ↓ |
| XL Catlin Seaview Survey | 2015–2017 | 1 station, 0.90 km | Records ↓ |
Coral Reef DiagnosticsYear-average (illustrative only, programs differ)Within 5 km, 9 independent survey stations recorded hard coral cover in 20 records between 1998 and 2017. Of the 2 stations surveyed in more than one year, 1 was scored by divers or by people annotating photographs: increased by 39 points between its first and latest surveys. The other 1 was scored by automated image analysis: changed by 7 points or less, inside the 7-point method-noise floor (inconclusive). The longest record, Vilm05/Vilamendhoo southwest (Reef Check, 3.94 km away), went from 6.3% in 1998 (mean of 2 surveys) to 45% in 2012 (mean of 3 surveys). The most recent nearby survey is from 2017, so these values predate recent heat stress. This site's own estimate (21%) sits just above the range of these station-year means up to 2 km away (15–21%); the two round to the same whole number, inside the 7-point method-noise floor (inconclusive); the methods differ, so the comparison is context, not a like-for-like test.
Collected by other programs using different methods (Reef Check uses point-intercept transects; the XL Catlin Seaview Survey uses photo-transects with automated image annotation), so these are context for the figures above, not a like-for-like comparison. Where a station was surveyed more than once, the cell shows either the range of its values or, as a single value, the mean of surveys made in one year. Station names are not dive-site names.
| Agency | Site / location | Date | Hard coral cover (%) | Distance | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reef Check | Vilm01 | 1998 | 5.0%, mean of 2 surveys (3 m and 10 m) | 3.65 km | — |
| Reef Check | Vilm03 | 1998 | 9.1%, mean of 2 surveys (3 m and 10 m) | 3.81 km | — |
| Reef Check | Vilm04 | 1998 | 12%, mean of 2 surveys (3 m and 10 m) | 3.87 km | — |
| Reef Check | Vilm05/Vilamendhoo southwest | 1998–2012 | 6.3–45% (range of yearly means; 5 surveys) | 3.94 km | — |
| Reef Check | Vilm02 | 1998 | 5.6%, mean of 2 surveys (3 m and 10 m) | 3.96 km | — |
| Reef Check | Banana Reef | 1998 | 12%, mean of 2 surveys (3 m and 10 m) | 4.11 km | — |
| XL Catlin Seaview Survey | transect 37011 | 2015–2017 | 15–21% (2 surveys) | 0.90 km | doi:10.14264/uql.2019.930 |
| Reef Check | Dangethi Inner Reef | 2017 | 26%, mean of 2 surveys (5 m and 10 m) | 2.11 km | — |
| Montefalcone et al. (2020) | Dangethi House Reef | 2017 | 1.0% | 2.77 km | doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.00587 |
Data & links
All images from Coral Reef Diagnostics. Data are from Coral Reef Diagnostics and the organizations named in the data sources above.
© Coral Reef Diagnostics.
References
- Montefalcone M, Morri C, Bianchi CN (2020). Influence of Local Pressures on Maldivian Coral Reef Resilience Following Repeated Bleaching Events, and Recovery Perspectives. Frontiers in Marine Science 7:587. PDF
- Gonzalez-Rivero M, et al. (2019). Seaview Survey photo-quadrat and image classification dataset. The University of Queensland (UQ eSpace) data collection. DOI