Sponge, Haliclona fascigera, around the island of Bunaken.
The Bunaken National Marine Park was formally established in 1991 and is among the first of Indonesia's growing system of marine parks. The park covers a total surface area of 89,065 hectares, 97% of which is overlain by sparkling clear, warm tropical water. The remaining 3% of the park is terrestrial, including the five islands of Bunaken, Manado Tua, Mantehage, Nain and Siladen. Although each of these islands has a special character, it is the aquatic ecosystem that attracts most naturalists. The waters of Bunaken National Marine Park are extremely deep (1566 m in Manado Bay), clear (up to 35-40 m visibility), refreshing in temperature (27-29 C) and harbor some of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world. Pick any of group of interest - corals, fish, echinoderms or sponges - and the number of families, genera or species is bound to be astonishingly high. For example, 7 of the 8 species of giant clams that occur in the world, occur in Bunaken. The park has around 70 genera of corals; compare this to a mere 10 in Hawaii. Although the exact number of fish species is unknown, it may be slightly higher than in the Philippines, where 2,500 species, or nearly 70% of all fish species known to the Indo-western Pacific, are found.
Size: 3900px × 5828px
Location: Bunaken Island, North Sulawesi province, Indonesia, Asia
Photo credit: © Amar and Isabelle Guillen - Guillen Photo LLC / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: asia, blue, bunaken, diving, fascigera, fish, haliclona, indonesia, island, life, marine, national, north, ocean, pacific, park, red, reef, scuba, sea, southeast, sponge, sulawesi, tropical, underwater, water
