Peros Banhos Wall

The outer wall of Peros Banhos atoll is among the most intact reef walls in the Indian Ocean. Coral cover here approaches 90 percent in places, with enormous table corals, sea fans, and barrel sponges covering near-vertical faces that drop from the surface to beyond 40 metres. Grey reef sharks and whitetip reef sharks patrol in numbers, and the wall's overhangs shelter lobster, moray eels, and resting nurse sharks. With zero fishing pressure across decades, the fish biomass on this wall is extraordinary — Napoleon wrasse approach divers with no fear, and large-bodied grouper hold every ledge.