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38 photos
These images were taken on a boat trip from Ambon to Saumlaki, Indonesia.

Indonesia – and particularly eastern Indonesia – has the largest, most beautiful, most ecologically diverse coral reef system in the world. Consider these amazing facts about this extraordinary pinnacle of marine diversity:

· Indonesia has more that 50,000 square kilometers of coral reefs, which is more than any other nation on earth.

· Indonesia is home to 600 of the almost 800 reef-building coral species in the world.


· Eastern Indonesia has 480 species of hard corals, approximately 60 percent of the world’s hard coral species.

· Eastern Indonesia has the greatest diversity of coral reef fish in the world, with more than 1,650 species.

· One can often find a greater diversity of marine species surrounding a single island in Indonesia than exists in all the coral reefs in the Caribbean!

Unfortunately, more than 80% of Indonesia’s reefs are assessed as threatened or “at risk,” largely from over-exploitation and global climate change, as reported in Reefs at Risk: Southeast Asia, a publication of the World Resources Institute. They are also seriously threatened by the increased acidification of the world's oceans, as a result of the dissolution into seawater of a net two billion tons of carbon dioxide each year.

Mandarinfish p4220362

Mandarinfish p4220362

Mandarinfish p4220360

Mandarinfish p4220360

Mandarinfish p4220364

Mandarinfish p4220364

Mandarinfish p4220348

Mandarinfish p4220348

Mandarinfish p4220356

Mandarinfish p4220356

Fire Dartfish p4250526

Fire Dartfish p4250526

Fire Dartfish p4250530

Fire Dartfish p4250530

Fire Dartfishp4210288

Fire Dartfishp4210288

Freckled Hawkfish p4280742

Freckled Hawkfish p4280742

Freckled Hawkfish p4280744

Freckled Hawkfish p4280744

Arc-Eye Hawkfish p4280750

Arc-Eye Hawkfish p4280750

Striped Triplefin p4280707

Striped Triplefin p4280707

Anthius p4260583

Anthius p4260583

Clark's Anemonefish p4280739

Clark's Anemonefish p4280739

Orange Anemonefish p4270667

Orange Anemonefish p4270667

Anemonefish p4250532

Anemonefish p4250532

Pyramid Butterflyfish p4230437

Pyramid Butterflyfish p4230437

Banded Sea Krait p4190086

Banded Sea Krait p4190086

Chinese Sea Snake, Manuk Island p4230403

Chinese Sea Snake, Manuk Island p4230403

Chinese Sea Snake, Manuk Island p4230405

Chinese Sea Snake, Manuk Island p4230405