Maldives - Maafushi
Part of the regional summaries: Maldives - Central (Male Atolls / Ari / Vaavu) and Maldives
April 2016 (transect survey)
July 2016 (transect survey)
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Maldives (NOAA CRW virtual station)A densely packed Maldivian reef slope of lime-green staghorn thickets and cauliflower corals, photographed in January 2016 — months before an April El Niño bleaching event left roughly 95% of Maafushi's colonies bleached.
ލުނބޯ ފެހި ކުލައިގެ ސްޓެގްހޯން ހިރިގާއާއި ކޮލީފްލާވަރ ހިރިގާ ގަދަކޮށް ހުރި ދިވެހި ފަރެއްގެ ފުންވަމުން ދާ ބައެކެވެ. މި ފޮޓޯތައް ނެގީ 2016 ގެ ޖަނަވަރީގައެވެ. އެއީ އޭޕްރީލްގައި ހިނގި El Niño ހިރިގާ ހުދުވުމުގެ ހާދިސާއިން Maafushi ގެ ކޮލޯނީތަކުގެ ގާތްގަނޑަކަށް 95% ހުދުވުމުގެ މަސްތަކެއް ކުރިންނެވެ.
AI translation of this summary; the English is authoritative. (low confidence)
Nine independent survey stations shown with the program’s logo — click one to see how far it is from this site.
Five other CRD dive sites with their own pages within 5 km shown in orange — click a marker to open its page.
18 of the 43 photographs on this page are shown beside the text that discusses them under "Site description" below.
Site description
Setting
Off Maafushi the reef is crowded: a rugged limestone slope plated in pink coralline algae and packed almost shoulder to shoulder with corals, falling away into open blue on its seaward edge (e.g., Image 21, Image 22).
General benthic features
Chocolate- and orange-brown cauliflower colonies compatible with Pocillopora dominate, but look closer and the bushy thickets compatible with Acropora steal the show — their corallites glow an improbable lime-green, each branch tipped with a smooth ivory bud of brand-new growth (e.g., Image 2, Image 4, Image 5, Image 8, Image 9, Image 10, Image 12, Image 16, Image 19, Image 20).
Honeycomb-patterned mounds compatible with Goniastrea fill the gaps (e.g., Image 3, Image 6, Image 11, Image 14, Image 18).
Coral cover
- Coral cover: 16% ± 9.6% (n=6 transects, median 13%) in July 2016 — Coral Reef CPR point-intercept transects, after the 2016 bleaching; we were part of the CPR team.
- Live coral cover fell from 43% (April 2016) to 16% (July 2016) during the 2016 global bleaching event.
- The April 2016 survey, during the bleaching, read 43% (n=5 transects).
Stressors
These research photos from January 2016 caught Maafushi vibrant and densely alive — months before the April El Niño resurvey found roughly 95% of its coral colonies bleached (e.g., Image 7).
Anderson's January sheet does record one crown-of-thorns starfish at the site (impaled on the transect B rebar) and one of the 15 colonies sampled with possible disease (tissue necrosis in its interior).
Comparisons with other data
We found no other surveys confirmed at this site as of 2026. Within 5 km, nine independent stations recorded station-year means of 5.5–73% hard coral cover between 2012 and 2025; the nearest, XL Catlin Seaview Survey at transect 37036, 1.43 km away, read 38% in 2015.
CV model comparison
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Same site, April 2016 → July 2016: 43% → 16% (Same reef, same survey program: Anderson's HARP / Coral Reef CPR long-term monitoring PIT transects, April 2016 → July 2016).More info
The other rows are comparisons and are never averaged.| Method | Hard coral cover (%) | Photos (n) ± SE |
|---|---|---|
| Transect, July 2016 (headline) | 15.7 | |
| Transect, April 2016 (during the bleaching) | 43.3 | |
| In-house DINOv3, January 2016 photos | 21.2 | |
| CoralSCOP edited, January 2016 photos | 40.1 |
The two computer-vision methods disagree by 18.9 pp (21.2–40.1%) and read 5.5–24.4 pp above the in-water transect (15.7%); the headline is the in-water transect because a diver transect is independent of the photographs.
See a more detailed, stand-alone version of this table.
Independent surveys nearby
| Agency / program | Year(s) | Stations / distance | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montefalcone et al. (2020) | 2016–2019 | 1 station, 3.50 km | Records ↓ |
| Montefalcone et al. 2026 | 2023–2025 | 3 stations, 2.04–3.72 km | Records ↓ |
| Reef Check | 2012–2025 | 3 stations, 3.72–4.91 km | Records ↓ |
| XL Catlin Seaview Survey | 2015–2017 | 2 stations, 1.43–2.08 km | Records ↓ |
Coral Reef DiagnosticsYear-average (illustrative only, programs differ)Within 5 km, 9 independent survey stations recorded hard coral cover in 25 records between 2012 and 2025. Of the 7 stations surveyed in more than one year, 6 were scored by divers or by people annotating photographs: 4 declined (by 3.0–35 points) and 2 increased (by 12–26 points) between their 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, Guraidhoo backreef (Reef Check, 4.91 km away), went from 28% in 2019 (mean of 2 surveys) to 25% in 2025 (mean of 2 surveys). Since 2021, station-year means average 40% (range 25–60%; n = 6 station-years from 8 records); 2 best-patch values above 70% are left out, as they are not site means. This site's own estimate (16%) sits 22 points below the one survey station up to 2 km away (38%); 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reef Check | Biyadhoo House Reef | 2012 | 18%, mean of 3 surveys (4 m, 7 m, and 12 m) | 4.66 km | — |
| XL Catlin Seaview Survey | transect 37036 | 2015 | 38% | 1.43 km | doi:10.14264/uql.2019.930 |
| XL Catlin Seaview Survey | transect 37035 | 2015–2017 | 5.5–7.1% (2 surveys) | 2.08 km | doi:10.14264/uql.2019.930 |
| Montefalcone et al. (2020) | Kandooma Beyru | 2016–2019 | 7.7–34% (range of yearly means; 3 records) | 3.50 km | doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.00587 |
| Reef Check | Kandooma Beyru | 2018–2019 | 18–30% (range of yearly means; 4 surveys) | 3.72 km | — |
| Reef Check | Guraidhoo backreef | 2019–2025 | 25–31% (range of yearly means; 6 surveys) | 4.91 km | — |
| Montefalcone et al. 2026 | Cocoa Beyru | 2023–2025 | 37–72% (2 surveys) best patch | 2.04 km | doi:10.1007/s00338-026-02850-x |
| Montefalcone et al. 2026 | Bajiy Giri | 2024–2025 | 43–60% (2 surveys) | 3.23 km | doi:10.1007/s00338-026-02850-x |
| Montefalcone et al. 2026 | Kandooma Beyru | 2024–2025 | 43–73% (2 surveys) best patch | 3.72 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