Maldives - Kuda Giri Wreck
Part of the regional summaries: Maldives - Central (Male Atolls / Ari / Vaavu) and Maldives
2017-05-22
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Maldives (NOAA CRW virtual station)A small wreck beside a coral pinnacle, its hull now crusted in coralline algae and cauliflower corals with glassy sweepers packing the passageways; nearby derelict coral-farming tables show mostly dead transplants with a few survivors.
ހިރިގާ ތިލައެއްގެ ކައިރީގައިވާ ކުދި ރެކެކެވެ (wreck). މިހާރު އޭގެ ބަނޑު coralline algae އާއި ކޮލީފްލާވަރ ހިރިގާއިން ނިވާވެފައި ހުރިއިރު، ތެރޭގެ މަގުތައް glassy sweepers ތަކުން ފުރިފައި ހުރެއެވެ. ކައިރީގައި ދޫކޮށްލާފައިވާ ހިރިގާ ހައިކުރާ މޭޒުތަކުގައި ހިންދާފައިވާ ހިރިގާގެ ގިނަ ބައެއް މަރުވެފައި ހުރިއިރު، ސަލާމަތްވެފައިވަނީ މަދު ކޮލޯނީއެކެވެ.
AI translation of this summary; the English is authoritative. (low confidence)
mean; range 29.7–29.9°C
Five independent survey stations shown with the program’s logo — click one to see how far it is from this site.
Ten other CRD dive sites with their own pages within 5 km shown in orange — click a marker to open its page.
9 of the 25 photographs on this page are shown beside the text that discusses them under "Site description" below.
Site description
Setting
A small ship sits upright on the sand beside a coral pinnacle, and after years underwater the two have nearly merged: hull plates crusted in pink coralline algae, railings sprouting cauliflower corals, massive mound corals squatting on the deck, and dark passageways packed with shimmering clouds of glassy sweepers (e.g., Image 2, Image 10, Image 12, Image 14).
General benthic features
Just beyond, the pinnacle's shallow crown blazes with healthy table and cauliflower corals (e.g., Image 4, Image 20).
Coral cover
- Reference: Claude CV point count (this site's photos)
- Coral cover: 17% — a blind Claude computer-vision point count of 56 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
There's a bittersweet detail here too: derelict coral-farming tables lie nearby, most of their transplanted fragments long dead, though a few stubborn survivors still hang on Image 16 and Image 23.
Divers from Coral Reef CPR and Carpe Diem Maldives found no crown-of-thorns starfish on either of the two dives here in May 2017.
Fish and other fauna
A pair of Moorish idols patrols the wreck, orange anthias swarm the framework, and a huge sea anemone on the structure shelters anemonefish with a single white bar — the Maldives' own species (e.g., Image 5).
Comparisons with other data
Montefalcone et al. (2026) surveyed this site (Kuda Giri Wreck) in May 2024 and again between February and May 2025, 0.05 km from the pin. Their station is the reef flat at 2–5 m, scored by visual estimate; hard coral was about 43% in 2024 and about 39% in 2025 (read from their Fig. 3). Our count comes from photographs of the wreck and pinnacle at about 31–33 m in May 2017, so the two are not directly comparable. Montefalcone et al. (2020, Table S1) also list this station in 2001 and 2007. Within 5 km, five independent stations recorded station-year means of 5.5–76% hard coral cover between 2015 and 2025; the nearest, Montefalcone et al. 2026 at Kuda Giri Wreck, 0.05 km away, read 39–43% between 2024 and 2025.
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 | 18.2 | |
| CoralSCOP edited | 21.0 | |
| Claude (edited photos) | 17.5 | n = 56 · SE 2.5 |
The two computer-vision methods agree within 2.8 pp (18.2–21.0%) and read within 3.5 pp of Claude's blind point count (17.5%).
See a more detailed, stand-alone version of this table.
Independent surveys nearby
| Agency / program | Year(s) | Stations / distance | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montefalcone et al. (2020) | 2015 | 1 station, 2.22 km | Records ↓ |
| Montefalcone et al. 2026 | 2024–2025 | 1 station, 0.05 km | Records ↓ |
| Reef Check | 2022 | 1 station, 2.71 km | Records ↓ |
| XL Catlin Seaview Survey | 2015–2017 | 2 stations, 3.20–3.82 km | Records ↓ |
Coral Reef DiagnosticsYear-average (illustrative only, programs differ)Within 5 km, 5 independent survey stations recorded hard coral cover in 7 records between 2015 and 2025. Of the 2 stations surveyed in more than one year, 1 was scored by divers or by people annotating photographs: declined by 4.0 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, transect 37035 (XL Catlin Seaview Survey, 3.20 km away), went from 7.1% in 2015 to 5.5% in 2017. Since 2021, station-year means average 34% (range 19–43%; n = 3 station-years from 3 records). This site's own estimate (17%) sits 22 points below the recent range of station-year means up to 2 km away (39–43%); 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. Values above 70% are marked “best patch”: surveys often target the densest coral on a reef, so these may overstate the site as a whole.
| Agency | Site / location | Date | Hard coral cover (%) | Distance | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montefalcone et al. (2020) | Cocoa Corner | 2015 | 76% best patch | 2.22 km | doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.00587 |
| XL Catlin Seaview Survey | transect 37035 | 2015–2017 | 5.5–7.1% (2 surveys) | 3.20 km | doi:10.14264/uql.2019.930 |
| XL Catlin Seaview Survey | transect 37036 | 2015 | 38% | 3.82 km | doi:10.14264/uql.2019.930 |
| Reef Check | Gulhi Island Backreef | 2022 | 19% | 2.71 km | — |
| Montefalcone et al. 2026 | Kuda Giri Wreck | 2024–2025 | 39–43% (2 surveys) | 0.05 km | doi:10.1007/s00338-026-02850-x |
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
- 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
- Gonzalez-Rivero M, et al. (2019). Seaview Survey photo-quadrat and image classification dataset. The University of Queensland (UQ eSpace) data collection. DOI