When people talk about the best diving spots in the world, you will most likely find the Coral Triangle high on the list, if not the top location – and for a good reason. The Coral Triangle is a location that many have described as an underwater heaven and paradise.
What is the Coral Triangle?
The Coral Triangle is a roughly-shaped, triangular, marine area in the tropical waters of the Western Indo-Pacific Ocean that is recognized as the global center for marine biodiversity.
The region covered by the Coral Triangle is home to 72% (574) of the world’s reef-building coral species, with over 2000 unique species of reef fishes and is home to six of the world’s seven marine turtle species. All of this is located in an area that covers only 1.6% of the world’s ocean – making this the highest concentrated diversity of marine biota anywhere in the world.
Location
The triangle is located in the tropical oceans encompassing two biogeographic regions – The Indonesian-Philippine Region and the Far Southwestern Pacific Region. This area covers up to 6 million square kilometers of waters surrounding Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands.
Center of the Triangle
The heart of the Coral Triangle is located in the Bird’s Head Peninsula of West Papua, within the legendary Raja Ampat archipelago. This area is considered to be the epicenter of coral diversity, hosting a staggering 72% of the world’s total coral species, and 95% of the Coral Triangle itself. The coral reef fishes found in this region are equally diverse. In fact, the triangle has more reef fish diversity than anywhere else on the planet, consisting of a concentrated 37% of the world’s reef fish species – 8% of those are geographically endemic species that are not found anywhere else in the world.
It is no surprise that the Coral Triangle is consistently on the list of top diving destinations for many divers. It is truly a diving haven and an underwater paradise unlike anywhere else in the world.
Join us at Calico Jack Charters to learn more about how you can discover the wonders of the Coral Triangle.
