Maldives - Dhigga Thila
Part of the regional summaries: Maldives - Central (Male Atolls / Ari / Vaavu) and Maldives
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Maldives (NOAA CRW virtual station) · Maldives ecoregion mean=2.9°C-heating weeksA soft-coral-draped pinnacle where every ledge drips with salmon, scarlet, and gold colonies in the current, though its crown still bears algae-covered table-coral skeletons from the 2016 bleaching. Computer vision cover estimate is 21.6-28.5%, averaging 25.1%.
Two independent survey stations shown with the program’s logo — click one to see how far it is from this site.
11 of these 24 photographs are shown beside the text that discusses them under "Site description" below.
Site description
General benthic features
A submerged pinnacle dressed for the occasion: every ledge and cave ceiling drips with soft coral in salmon, scarlet, orange, and gold, the fleshy colonies inflated in the afternoon current like flowering trees (e.g., Image 5, Image 13, Image 17).
A great leather coral spreads its rippled crown among them (e.g., Image 2), a lattice sea fan opens against the blue (e.g., Image 24), and clouds of orange anthias hover over cauliflower-coral thickets (e.g., Image 19).
Coral cover
Coral cover: 25% — photo-derived, and the two methods broadly agree (22% vs 29%). This site's figure is the mean of two independent computer vision passes over Anderson's own frames: a DINOv3 calibrated point classifier reads 21.6% and a CoralSCOP computer vision reads 28.5%, a spread of 6.9 percentage points. The map publishes the mean so sites can be sorted against one another, but the honest statement of what is known here is the 22–29% range: the two products have different denominators and should not be treated as one measurement. Anderson considers this CoralSCOP and DINOv3 figure a work in progress and will replace it as soon as a better coral-cover CV model turns up.
Stressors
Up on the pinnacle's crown the 2016 bleaching's legacy shows in fields of algae-covered table skeletons (e.g., Image 18, Image 20), but down the flanks, in soft-coral country, this thila is pure color (e.g., Image 10).
No crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) or other corallivores evident.
Fish and other fauna
The strangest guests are the smallest: a translucent comb jelly pulsing past in open water like a living lantern (e.g., Image 22), and a ruffled maroon flatworm inching — of all places — along a length of white PVC pipe left on the reef (e.g., Image 23).
Comparisons with other data
No independent survey was made at this exact site; the nearest ones are listed in the table below.
CV model comparison
More info
As of September 2026 no computer-vision method 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
The published figure is the mean of the two methods.| Method | Hard-coral cover (%) |
|---|---|
| In-house DINOv3 | 21.6 |
| CoralSCOP | 28.5 |
| Mean (± SD) | 25.1 ± 4.9 |
| Range | 21.6–28.5 |
| Reef Check 2013 (same site) | 15.6 |
Mean ± SD and range are across the computer-vision methods shown.
Independent surveys nearby
Dr. Coral (CRD)Within 5 km, 2 independent survey stations recorded hard coral cover in 7 surveys between 2011 and 2017. Of the 1 station surveyed in more than one year, 1 declined between their first and latest surveys. The longest record, Digga Thilla (Reef Check, 0.22 km away), went from 62% in 2011 to 14% in 2017. The most recent nearby survey is from 2017, so these values predate recent heat stress. This site's own estimate (25%) sits within the range of these surveys (14–62%); 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), so these are context for the figures above, not a like-for-like comparison. Where a station was surveyed more than once the range is shown. Station names are not dive-site names.
| Agency | Site / location | Date | Hard coral cover (%) | Distance | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reef Check | Digga Thilla | 2011–2017 | 14–62% (4 surveys) | 0.22 km | — |
| Reef Check | Dhigga Thila | 2013 | 29% (3 surveys) | 0.08 km | — |
Data & links
All images from Coral Reef Diagnostics. Data are from Coral Reef Diagnostics and the organizations named in the data-sources table above.
© Coral Reef Diagnostics.