Millenium Atoll is a small lagoon in the Caroline Islands of Kiribati; it is only about three square kilometers but the lagoon of Millenium Atoll could contain one of the most pristine and untouched coral reefs left in the world. A study published today in PLoS ONE by Barott et al revealed that the Millenium Atoll lagoon has incredible diversity of fishes, tons of sharks, abundant giant clams, insane coral cover and lots and lots of filter feeders.Altogether 89 species of fish and 32 species of corals were counted at Millenium Atoll: Acropora were found to be the two most dominant coral species in this lagoon with some stands becoming so massive that they are literally growing off the reef and tumbling down the reef edge. Next most abundant corals in the lagoon of Millenium Atoll were Montipora, Fungia, Pavona and Leptastrea and collectively the corals made up over 60% of the coverage in Millenium Atoll. About 20% of the coral cover was made up of Crustose Coralline Algae (CCA) and the giant clam Tridacna maxima were especially abundant in the lagoon as well with 2.5% of the coverage. What is particularly exciting about this discovery is that the Millenium Atoll reef can serve as a baseline for marine biologists and reef ecologists to study what a pristine reef should look like, since most reefs around the world already show some kind of human caused degradation. Hopefully this environmental treasure of the Republic of Kiribati will become a marine protected area of some kind in the future.
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