Maldives - Fish House (Fish Head)
Part of the regional summaries: Maldives - Central (Male Atolls / Ari / Vaavu) and Maldives
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Maldives (NOAA CRW virtual station)The trip's closing dive over a bare, current-polished ridge thick with triggerfish, bannerfish, whitetip, and gray reef sharks, and a giant moray caught free-swimming in daylight — light on coral but a strong finish for fish life.
ދަތުރުގެ އެންމެ ފަހު ފީނުމެވެ. މި ފީނުނީ އޮޔާއިން ފަސްކޮށްލާފައިވާ، ހުސް ފަރުގެ ރޮނގެއްގެ މަތިންނެވެ. އެތަނުގައި triggerfish، bannerfish، whitetip އާއި gray reef shark ތައް ގިނަކޮށް ހުރިއިރު، ދުވާލު ހުޅުވިފައިވާ ތަނެއްގައި ފަތަމުން ދިޔަ giant moray އެއް ވެސް ފެނުނެވެ. ހިރިގާ މަދު ނަމަވެސް، މަސްތަކުގެ ގޮތުން ވަރަށް ރަނގަޅު ނިމުމެކެވެ.
AI translation of this summary; the English is authoritative. (low confidence)
Five independent survey stations shown with the program’s logo — click one to see how far it is from this site.
9 of the 24 photographs on this page are shown beside the text that discusses them under "Site description" below.
Site description
General benthic features
Not much coral (e.g., Image 21), but plenty of fish life to close the trip.
Coral cover
- Reference: Claude CV point count (this site's photos)
- Coral cover: 3.0% — a blind Claude computer-vision point count of 23 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
On this dive (26 May 2017), Anderson's field sheet records four crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) seen, and all four were collected.
Fish and other fauna
Over a bare, current-polished ridge the water itself is the habitat: thunderhead clouds of dark redtoothed triggerfish, drifting flotillas of bannerfish, and an orange anthias haze that clings to every surviving coral head (e.g., Image 3, Image 4, Image 12).
Through it all the sharks commute — whitetip reef sharks skimming the pavement in ones and twos (e.g., Image 10), a bulkier gray reef shark ghosting past in the blue (e.g., Image 14) — while a golden phalanx of bluestripe snapper packs into a hollow with a jack circling its edges (e.g., Image 23).
The boldest resident is a giant moray caught free-swimming in broad daylight, rippling across the pink coralline rock with no crevice in sight (e.g., Image 19).
A curious batfish sees the divers off (e.g., Image 1).
Comparisons with other data
Montefalcone et al. (2020) surveyed a nearby station (Fish Head) in 2001 and 2004, at a published position 0.71 km from the pin. Cover values from that work are not among the survey records shown on this page. Within 5 km, five independent stations recorded station-year means of 7.0–52% hard coral cover between 1997 and 2019; the nearest of these, Montefalcone et al. (2020) at Kubulabhi Etheru, 2.58 km away, read 7.0–18% between 2017 and 2019.
Dive record
The last dive of the trip, and the name is a promise kept.
CV model comparison
More info
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 | 12.5 | |
| CoralSCOP edited | 6.3 | |
| Claude (edited photos) | 3.0 | n = 23 · SE 1.4 |
The two computer-vision methods agree within 6.2 pp (6.3–12.5%) and read 3.3–9.5 pp above Claude's blind point count (3.0%); the headline is Claude's blind point count because no transect or manual count exists here.
See a more detailed, stand-alone version of this table.
Independent surveys nearby
| Agency / program | Year(s) | Stations / distance | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montefalcone et al. (2020) | 2017–2019 | 1 station, 2.58 km | Records ↓ |
| Reef Check | 1997–2019 | 4 stations, 3.08–3.92 km | Records ↓ |
Coral Reef DiagnosticsYear-average (illustrative only, programs differ)Within 5 km, 5 independent survey stations recorded hard coral cover in 10 records between 1997 and 2019. The one station surveyed in more than one year increased by 11 points between its first and latest surveys. The longest record, Kubulabhi Etheru (Montefalcone et al. 2020, 2.58 km away), went from 7.0% in 2017 to 18% in 2019. The most recent nearby survey is from 2019, so these values predate recent heat stress. This site's own estimate (3.0%) is not compared with these surveys: none lies within 2 km.
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 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 | Orimas Faru Nord | 1997 | 41%, mean of 2 surveys (3 m and 10 m) | 3.45 km | — |
| Montefalcone et al. (2020) | Kubulabhi Etheru | 2017–2019 | 7.0–18% (range of yearly means; 2 records) | 2.58 km | doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.00587 |
| Reef Check | Kubuladhi Inner | 2017 | 16%, mean of 2 surveys (5 m and 10 m) | 3.79 km | — |
| Reef Check | Faanu Madugau Inner Reef | 2017 | 52%, mean of 2 surveys (5 m and 10 m) | 3.92 km | — |
| Reef Check | Kubuladi etere | 2019 | 11%, mean of 2 surveys (5 m and 10 m) | 3.08 km | — |
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.