Maldives - Fish Tank

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Part of the regional summaries: Maldives - Central (Male Atolls / Ari / Vaavu) and Maldives

Photo: Anderson Mayfield/Coral Reef Diagnostics

Country

Maldives

Survey date(s)

2017-05-21

Coordinates

4.2659, 73.5380

Coral cover

not reported

Too few images to estimate coral cover.

Observations

crown-of-thorns

Heat stress

Most recent heat load record

30.1°C 0.0°C-weeks

26 Oct 2026 · Bleaching Watch

5-year thermal stress load

5-year mean max. degree heating weeks (DHW)

2.2°C-weeksⁱ

2021–2025

NOAA Coral Reef Watch — Maldives virtual station

i 5-year mean max. DHW is the mean of the annual maximum DHWs over the five complete years named above, not conditions today.

More info

Maldives (NOAA CRW virtual station)

Photographs

Site summary

Read this summary in:

A murky sand-and-rubble patch with little coral in frame that functions as an open-water aquarium — huge stingrays, trevally packs, and a fallen beam packed with giraffe-patterned honeycomb morays.

Max. depth dived

19.9 m

sample-sheet maximum

Sea surface temp. (satellite)

30.1°C

satellite sea surface temperature (SST) on the survey date (NOAA Coral Reef Watch, Maldives), not an in-water reading; it is the warmest-pixel (90th percentile) reading in the station area and can run 1–1.5°C above the reef

Seven independent survey stations shown with the program’s logo — click one to see how far it is from this site.

Two other CRD dive sites with their own pages within 5 km shown in orange — click a marker to open its page.

6 of the 19 photographs on this page are shown beside the text that discusses them under "Site description" below.

Photo credit & attribution

Site description

Setting

The name says it all: this murky patch of sand and rubble works like a big open-water aquarium, and the haze only makes the encounters more cinematic.

General benthic features

Little coral in frame, unforgettable fish.

Coral cover

Coral cover: too few images to estimate it — only 6 usable reef photographs were scored, fewer than the 10 the photo rule needs; the photographs are still shown on this page.

Stressors

On this dive (21 May 2017), Anderson's field sheet records two crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) seen, and divers from Coral Reef CPR and Carpe Diem Maldives removed both. A plastic bag is snagged in the rock beside the honeycomb morays (e.g., Image 18).

Fish and other fauna

Huge stingrays materialize out of the green-blue gloom — one an absolute monster — gliding past at close range with long tails trailing. Packs of trevally prowl the edges of visibility and a wall of fusiliers shimmers overhead (e.g., Image 1, Image 2, Image 5).

Down on the bottom, a fallen beam has become an eel tenement: honeycomb morays in bold giraffe-print peer from its crevices, two heads sometimes sharing one doorway, with a red squirrelfish standing guard and a spiny lobster betraying itself by nothing but a fan of white antennae under a ledge (e.g., Image 3, Image 4).

Comparisons with other data

We found no other surveys at this site as of 2026. Within 5 km, seven independent stations recorded station-year means of 7.2–55% hard coral cover between 2010 and 2025; the nearest, Montefalcone et al. 2026 at Kudabandos, 2.76 km away, read 45–55% between 2024 and 2025.

Coral cover score card

This site is listed in a stand-alone coral cover score card.

Independent surveys nearby

Data availability near this site
Agency / program	Year(s)	Stations / distance	Link
Montefalcone et al. (2020)	2015–2019	2 stations, 3.77–4.08 km	Records ↓
Montefalcone et al. 2026	2024–2025	1 station, 2.76 km	Records ↓
Reef Check	2010–2024	4 stations, 2.93–4.78 km	Records ↓

Hard coral cover over time — every independent station within 5 km. Programs are shown separately because they use different methods at different stations; the lines are not one comparable series.

Reef Check Montefalcone et al. (2020) Montefalcone et al. 2026Year-average (illustrative only, programs differ)

Within 5 km, 7 independent survey stations recorded hard coral cover in 14 records between 2010 and 2025. Of the 3 stations surveyed in more than one year, 3 declined (by 10–26 points) between their first and latest surveys. The longest record, Banana Reef (Montefalcone et al. 2020, 4.08 km away), went from 40% in 2015 to 19% in 2019. Since 2021, station-year means average 45% (range 35–55%; n = 3 station-years from 4 records).

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.

Independent survey data near this site
Agency	Site / location	Date	Hard coral cover (%)	Distance	Link
Reef Check	Banana Reef	2010	33%	2.93 km	—
Reef Check	Banana Reef	2014	16%	3.16 km	—
Montefalcone et al. (2020)	Hulumale Beyru	2015–2016	15–41% (range of yearly means; 2 records)	3.77 km	doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.00587
Montefalcone et al. (2020)	Banana Reef	2015–2019	12–40% (range of yearly means; 4 records)	4.08 km	doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.00587
Reef Check	Kuda Banana Reef	2019	7.2%, mean of 2 surveys (5 m and 10 m)	3.61 km	—
Montefalcone et al. 2026	Kudabandos	2024–2025	45–55% (2 surveys)	2.76 km	doi:10.1007/s00338-026-02850-x
Reef Check	Bandos Island Housereef	2024	35%, mean of 2 surveys (5 m and 8.5 m)	4.78 km	—

Data & links

All images from Coral Reef Diagnostics. Data are from Coral Reef Diagnostics and the organizations named in the data sources above.

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
Montefalcone M, Bianchi CN, Morri C, Ahmed H, Pancrazi I (2026). Outcomes of the fourth global coral bleaching (2023–2024) in the Maldives. Coral Reefs. DOI