Maldives - Raaeundi Reef
Part of the regional summaries: Maldives - Central (Male Atolls / Ari / Vaavu) and Maldives
More info
Maldives (NOAA CRW virtual station) · Maldives ecoregion mean=2.9°C-heating weeksRaaeundi Reef is a shallow flat with a ghost-forest feel, where old staghorn skeletons gray with algae stand beneath scattered living corals, and razorfish hover head-down among the dead branches. Many colonies were already pale in January 2016, and by the April 2016 resurvey at the peak of El Nino every coral recorded here was bleached.
Two independent survey stations shown with the program’s logo — click one to see how far it is from this site.
Four other CRD dive sites within 5 km shown in orange — click a marker to open its page.
11 of these 25 photographs are shown beside the text that discusses them under "Site description" below.
Site description
General benthic features
A shallow, sun-flooded reef flat with a ghost-forest feel: hectares of old staghorn skeletons, gray with algal turf, stand as the framework this reef built in better days — with the living corals scattered over the top like survivors (e.g., Image 7, Image 8, Image 24).
Coral cover
Coral cover: 22% — photo-derived, and the two methods broadly agree (24% vs 19%). This site's figure is the mean of two independent computer vision passes over Anderson's own frames: a DINOv3 calibrated point classifier reads 24.2% and a CoralSCOP computer vision reads 19.3%, a spread of 4.9 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 19–24% range: the two products have different denominators and should not be treated as one measurement. Anderson keeps an eye out for newer CV models and will refresh this CoralSCOP and DINOv3 figure once a more trustworthy option is available.
Stressors
Even in January many colonies were pale, with white tips and pink stress blushes (e.g., Image 10, Image 12, Image 19); by the April 2016 resurvey, at the peak of the El Niño, every single coral colony recorded here was bleached.
No crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) or other corallivores evident.
Fish and other fauna
Look between the dead branches for the odd couple of this site — pairs of knife-thin razorfish hovering head-down among the twigs, and a leopard-spotted sea cucumber lounging across the quadrats.
Comparisons with other data
No independent survey was made at this exact site; the nearest ones are listed in the table below.
Dive record
The January 2016 research dives tagged dozens of them: fat-fingered and bottlebrush Acropora and blue-tinged Pocillopora heads, each numbered and measured along the transect line (e.g., Image 1, Image 4, Image 6, Image 13, Image 17).
CV model comparison
More info
As of September 2026 no computer-vision method 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
The published figure is the mean of the two methods.| Method | Hard-coral cover (%) |
|---|---|
| In-house DINOv3 | 24.2 |
| CoralSCOP | 19.3 |
| Mean (± SD) | 21.8 ± 3.5 |
| Range | 19.3–24.2 |
Mean ± SD and range are across the computer-vision methods shown.
Independent surveys nearby
| Agency / program | Year(s) | Stations / distance | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montefalcone et al. (2020) | 2015 | 1 station, 4.87 km | Records ↓ |
| Reef Check | 2022 | 1 station, 3.08 km | Records ↓ |
Dr. Coral (CRD)Within 5 km, 2 independent survey stations recorded hard coral cover in 2 surveys between 2015 and 2022. One survey since 2021 recorded 19%. This site's own estimate (22%) is indistinguishable from the recent value (19%): the 2.4-point gap is inside the ±7 percentage-point noise between methods; 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 range is shown. Station names are not dive-site names. Values marked best patch exceed 70%: surveyors usually chose the richest area, so they are not site means.
| Agency | Site / location | Date | Hard coral cover (%) | Distance | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montefalcone et al. (2020) | Cocoa Corner | 2015 | 76% best patch | 4.87 km | HeatCRD database |
| Reef Check | Gulhi Island Backreef | 2022 | 19% | 3.08 km | — |
Data & links
All images from Coral Reef Diagnostics. Data are from Coral Reef Diagnostics and the organizations named in the data-sources table above.
© Coral Reef Diagnostics.