Staghorn Coral

Photo: pleahy · © all rights reserved

The lagoon shallows of Ant Atoll contain fields of staghorn coral in the kind of continuous, unbroken coverage that has become extraordinarily rare across the Indo-Pacific since mass bleaching events of the 1990s and 2000s. The atoll's depth and the circulation patterns of its lagoon appear to buffer water temperatures slightly, providing the coral communities with marginal but meaningful protection during regional thermal stress events. Snorkellers and shallow divers moving through these fields encounter a landscape of branching coral architecture that supports dozens of fish species dependent on the structural complexity it provides.