Raja Ampat - Barracuda Rock

Setting

28C. An extremely protected rock island fringing reef in an archipelago within an archipelago within the Pulau Misool region of Raja Ampat. Surface current.

General benthic features

Corals showed characteristic growth types of low flow/low wave energy. Some small Pachyseris spp. plates, Diploastrea, Montipora, Sinularia, Sarcophyton, very strange Seriatopora with thick branches. Saw it at multiple places at site, including shallows. Green Seriatopora caliendrum common at site. Incredibly high coral diversity: at least 60-70 species. 20-30 species unable to identify. Lobophyllia, Astrocoenia, Fungia, Echinopora, Goniopora, octopus (Naoko has good pics.), staghorn thicket, several large Acropora tables going down slope. Pocillopora acuta with extremely thin branches. Golden tunicates everywhere (common in Papua evidently). Soft corals common at all parts of site. Stylophora pistillata, P. rus plates, Pocillopora verrucosa, small Porites mounds, Plerogyra. Hard coral diversity particularly high at 10 m. Euphyllia, stinging hydroids, fire coral, >60 species of hard coral at 2-10 m. Top of reef (5 m) dominated by soft corals, Acropora spp., tunicates, and small poritids. Some large Acropora colonies turned into damselfish gardens/nests. 1 Pocillopora acuta in 1-2 m.

Coral cover

Coral cover: no figure is published for this site. Nothing on the map attaches a coral-cover measurement to this site — the account above is descriptive background, not a survey result. A value will be added if transect data, an independent survey nearby, or a computer vision pass on Anderson's own photographs becomes available.

Stressors

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

Comparisons with other data

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

Dive record

Dive 14: Barracuda Rock.

Other notes

Have pictures-possibly a new species.