Maldives - Fish Tank

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

Zero coral, unforgettable fish.

Coral cover

Coral cover: 8.1% — photo-derived, and the two methods broadly agree (11% vs 4.9%). This site's figure is the mean of two independent computer vision passes over Anderson's own frames: a DINOv3 calibrated point classifier reads 11.2% and a CoralSCOP computer vision reads 4.9%, a spread of 6.3 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 4.9–11% range: the two products have different denominators and should not be treated as one measurement. Anderson is actively trying out other CV models and intends to redo this CoralSCOP and DINOv3-based figure once something more dependable comes along.

Stressors

No crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) or other corallivores evident.

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, while packs of trevally prowl the edges of visibility and a wall of fusiliers shimmers overhead (e.g., Image 1, Image 2, Image 5).

125

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).

34

Comparisons with other data

No independent survey was made at this exact site; the nearest ones are listed in the table below.