Two Reefs in the Maldives

Part 2: Embudhu Village

By Alf Jacob Nilsen (originaly published in Das Aquarium)

The island of Embuhdu Village differs very much from Kanifinolhu which we delt with in part 1 of this series. Embudhu Village is a smaller island than Kanifinolhu, and it is lying inside the atoll - a few thousand yards from the outter reefs. As this island is situated directly in the Embudhu Channel which brings ocean water in and out of the atoll, Embudhu Village is always exposed to strong currents which have a positive influence on the development of reefs. Embudhu Village is also very different to the neighbouring island, Embudhu Finolhu, which is situated on the edge of South Male Atoll. Both islands are commonly just called Embudhu, and it is easy to pick the wrong island. One should be aware that Embudhu Finolhu does not have a house reef at all, while Embudhu Village does perhaps has the very best house reef among all the tourists islands in the Maldives, (perhaps with the Island of Kuredu as an exception). Reefs are well developed around the whole island, and they are easily acessable by snorkeling. The growth of corals is at many spots magnificient, except for some places where it is damaged by tourism. The diversity of fish is extraordinary, almost anything can bee seen in a single dive or even at an early morning snorkeling. However, one must be aware of the strong currents - it can easily sweep you away.

The island diving center is run by Mr. Wolfgang Brak and Mrs. Karin Blauensteiner of Austria, and we found it to be an excellent and very friendly diving center. As long as you listen to its staff, you are safe. Two daily boat trips to spectacular diving spots both in the South and North Male Atollare are offered, and sometimes a full day excursion are made with two dives and a stop over at one or two remote islands. Diving conditions in the Vadu Channel, which separates North and South Male Atoll, are recognized to be some of the very best in the whole Maldives. Beginners course (PADI) to non-divers and resort-courses to anyone are offered too. This island is very good indeed ! Bookings from Ocean Tours (Munic), Neckermann, Hotelplan, Unger Flugreisen, Touropa and Star Tour Fritidsresor.

THE HOUSE REEF

The keyword at Embudhu Village is current . As the island is situated directly in the Embudhu Channel, the strong current that brings oceanic water in and out of the South Male lagoon, hits the house reefs.

Inside the reefs there are huge sand flats which is widest in the northeastern and eastern part of the island. In the southern and southwestern part of the island, the reefs are very close to the beach and easily accessible to snorkelers. The shape of the reefs when seen from the air is like "a tear drop", with the sharp end pointing towards the passage in the atoll. The shape is formed by the current, and is typical for coral islands situated in heavy current water.

Unlike the shallow lagoon at Kanifinolhu it is not possible to describe the whole house reef as one unit. In the east the sand flats are huge, while in the west they are smaller. I have concentrated on one part of the reef which lied on the southeastern side of the island, just outside our cabins.

ZONATION

The reef outside our cabins was not unlike a model of a coastal reef in the Red Sea. It could be divided into some main sections: Beach, Beach channel with sand, Back-reef-slope, Reef Flat with Micro Atolls, Reef Crest, Reef Front and Reef Slope.

Closest to the island was, as always in the Maldives, a narrow beach with pure, white and cooling coral sand. However, at several spots we did find "beach rock". Beach rock is a feature of the intertidal zone of the tropic seas and was first noticed by Charles Darwin on the coast of Brazil when he sailed with HMS Beagle. It is formed by a process of cementing debris from the reef and coral sand under certain physical conditions, where water level and illumination is two important factors. Many times the surface of beach rock is covered with various growth of algae, which in turn is the food for numerous snails. At Embudhu Village beach rock was more commonly seen than at Kanifinolhu.

Further outwards the bottom fell towards the Beach channel (Uferkanal) which had a maximum depth of about 2 meters. The "Uferkanal" was typical in this part of the house reef, and a place where the current flowed strongly. In other spots the channel widened out to larger sand flats. However, the "Uferkanal" contained several interesting species of fish, among others several pairs of gobies and their symbiotic pistol-shrimps. It was also the only place where we could observe many of the long and fancy sea cucumber Synapta maculata . We did also see hundreds of surgeonfish gathering for algae grazing in the "Uferkanal". Usually the surgeon fish are solitary fishes, but from time to time they gather in large groups. In this way they get better protection against enemies when grazing. They are restless fishes which rapidly moves from spot to spot on the reef. Acanthurus leucosternon and Acanthurus triostegus seemed to be the two species that most often showed this behavior at Embudhu Village. In the "Uferkanal", as well as on the reef edge, we saw large schools of Caranx melampygus which is a very common species in the Maldives. These rather large fish always swim in schools at a very high speed and rapidly attack any possible prey.

It was impossible to list the many fish species to specific zones on this reefs. The number was too high ! Embudhu Village is certainly the right island to pick if one want to observe fish while snorkeling.

Outside the "Uferkanal" there was a small Inner Reef Slope with a beautiful growth of coral. We did find various Acropora sp. and lovely, purple forms of Pocillopora damicornis . There were one particular spot covered with thousands of brown mushroom anemones, in fact the only Corallimorpharians that we observed during the tour. The inner reef slope was not very wide and rapidly turned into a typical Mikro-Atoll-Zone. The substrate was exposed to open air at extreme low tide and only a few Acropora and other hardy Scleractinians could survive here. The corals secrete mucus which protect them against the harmful ultraviolet radiation. The bottom of the small microatolls did, however, have a very interesting fauna on the downward side of boulders. Beautiful growth of the purple Distichophora violacea (Hydrozoa, Stylasteridae) together with numerous sponges, sea squids and algae were discovered when turning av boulder. This at once attracted lots of fish, and I cannot forget one morning being surrounded by several Pygoplites diacanthus eating from the boulder, and I having left the camera in the cabin !

But there was other moments when the camera was present and when peculiar things happened. One early morning at sunrise, large schools of Acanthurus triostegus grazed algae. While watching them not less than three cephalopods (Octopus sp.) appeared only a few feet away. They were very friendly and could almost be touched. This happened not more that 50 meters from the beach and in less than one meter depth. We watched them again and again the following days.

Further out the depth increased, and with it the diversity of corals and fish. It was fantastic ! Everything that one could hope to see was present here. It is impossible to identify all the species living here, it just must be seen to be believed ! There was, however, a dramatically increase in the number of species as the depth of water increased and prevented exposure to open air. There was huge brain corals from the genus Diplorastrea and large table-corals of the species Acropora calthrata . There were beautiful stag-horn-groups of Acropora sp. surrounded with Chromis vidris . There were burning colonies of Millepora dichotoma together with small groups of the interesting and often overlooked lippfish Thalassoma amblycephalum . This was a fantasy world of peculiar shaped pillars covered with purple and yellow stony corals and among them schools of Caranx sp . and Anthias sp ., while sea-urchins, crinoids and starfish in various colors looked as us from the bottom.

At a depth of 25 meters the reef-slope stretched out to a fore reef which housed several interesting gorgonians, sponges and lager schools of fish. This area is, however, only reached by the divers. To lie still on the bottom at 25 meters looking up towards the reef edge while the sunlight is strong, is a memory which will never be forgotten.

On the very last night at Embudhu Village we did a night snorkeling equipped with light and cameras. And what a swim !

The orange Tubastrae coccinea , which are always closed and less impressive at daytime, were all beautifully expanded. So were the large colonies of soft corals from the genus Sinularia with bright white polyps. On top of the corals were hundreds of feather stars with red, yellow and white "feathers" and among the boulders lay several huge parrotfish sleeping in their muscus-net. It is a different reef at night. Most animals that are active at night hide during the day and avoid sunlight. An example is the red and very predatory hermit crab Dardanus megistos which were numerous on the reef flat at night. Fish that live in deeper waters at daytime can often be seen in quiet shallow depth during night, and the reef building corals have their polyps expanded and remind us of their need for plankton.

As we slowly moved along the reef edge a large stingray appeared. And it was huge ! And very close ! As soon as it noticed us it headed for deeper water. I tried to follow and suddenly found myself on 10 meters depth carrying a heavy light and a camera, but no air ! I managed to shoot some pictures, but was very happy to reach the surface again. The stingray belonged to the species Tanieura melanospila , a very common ray in the Maldives, but not so colorful as the more known Tanieura lymma . And as this was not enough, a large shark slowly passed in front of us when we were about to head for the dark beach - we were not eaten, but anyway ...the next day it would all be over.