Maldives - Miyaro Faru
Part of the regional summaries: Maldives - Central (Male Atolls / Ari / Vaavu) and Maldives
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Maldives (NOAA CRW virtual station)A late-afternoon drift over tiered table-coral terraces in golden light, highlighted by a huge dark moray, compatible with a giant moray, hunting in the open across sand and a huddle of oriental sweetlips packed under one coral table.
ހަވީރުގެ ފަހުކޮޅު، ރަން ކުލައިގެ އަލީގައި، ފަށަލަ ފަށަލައަށް ހުރި ޓޭބަލް ހިރިގާގެ ފަށަލަތަކުގެ މަތިން ކުރި ޑްރިފްޓް ފީނުމެކެވެ. މި ފީނުމުގެ މުހިންމު ބަޔަކީ ވެލިމަތިން ހުޅުވިފައިވާ ތަނެއްގައި ޝިކާރަ ހޯދަމުން ދިޔަ، giant moray އަކާ ވައްތަރު ބޮޑު moray އެއް، އަދި އެއް ޓޭބަލް ހިރިގާއެއްގެ ދަށުގައި ގުޅިގެން ހުރި oriental sweetlips ގެ ޖަމާޢަތެކެވެ.
AI translation of this summary; the English is authoritative. (low confidence)
Three independent survey stations shown with the program’s logo — click one to see how far it is from this site.
Seven other CRD dive sites with their own pages within 5 km shown in orange — click a marker to open its page.
5 of the 17 photographs on this page are shown beside the text that discusses them under "Site description" below.
Site description
Setting
A late-afternoon drift over pink-crusted pavement and sand channels, ending on terraces of living table corals compatible with Acropora, stacked tier upon tier along the reef edge in the day's last blue light, a wire coral corkscrewing up between them (e.g., Image 1, Image 2, Image 5).
Coral cover
- Reference: Claude CV point count (this site's photos)
- Coral cover: 24% — a blind Claude computer-vision point count of 20 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
No crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) or other corallivores were evident.
Fish and other fauna
Mid-dive, the reef produced a genuine event — a huge dark moray, compatible with a giant moray, abandoned its hole entirely and went snaking across the open sand between bommies, hunting in plain view while the camera tracked it frame by frame (e.g., Image 4).
The closer: a conspiratorial huddle of oriental-type sweetlips — pinstriped in blue and black, fins dipped in yellow — packed shoulder-to-shoulder under a table coral like commuters under one umbrella (e.g., Image 12).
Comparisons with other data
Montefalcone et al. (2020) surveyed a nearby station (Fushidiggaru Etheru) in 1999, 0.14 km from the pin. Cover values from that work are not among the survey records shown on this page. Within 5 km, three independent stations recorded station-year means of 19–76% hard coral cover between 2015 and 2025; the nearest of these, Reef Check at Gulhi Island Backreef, 1.35 km away, read 19% in 2022.
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 | 17.0 | |
| CoralSCOP edited | 23.4 | |
| Claude (edited photos) | 23.8 | n = 20 · SE 5.6 |
The two computer-vision methods agree within 6.4 pp (17.0–23.4%) and read within 6.8 pp of Claude's blind point count (23.8%).
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, 1.62 km | Records ↓ |
| Montefalcone et al. 2026 | 2024–2025 | 1 station, 3.38 km | Records ↓ |
| Reef Check | 2022 | 1 station, 1.35 km | Records ↓ |
Coral Reef DiagnosticsYear-average (illustrative only, programs differ)Within 5 km, 3 independent survey stations recorded hard coral cover in 4 records between 2015 and 2025. The one station surveyed in more than one year declined by 4.0 points between its first and latest surveys. The longest record, Kuda Giri Wreck (Montefalcone et al. 2026, 3.38 km away), went from 43% in 2024 to 39% in 2025. Since 2021, station-year means average 34% (range 19–43%; n = 3 station-years from 3 records). This site's own estimate (24%) sits 5 points above the recent value up to 2 km away (19%), inside the 7-point method-noise floor (inconclusive); 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), 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 | 1.62 km | doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.00587 |
| Reef Check | Gulhi Island Backreef | 2022 | 19% | 1.35 km | — |
| Montefalcone et al. 2026 | Kuda Giri Wreck | 2024–2025 | 39–43% (2 surveys) | 3.38 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