Raja Ampat Regency

Raja Ampat (translated the kingdom of the four rajas ) is an archipelago in the Indo-Pacific west of New Guinea. As part of West New Guinea Raja Ampat Indonesia and forms with the Vogelkop Peninsula and the Peninsula Bomberai the province of Papua Barat.

Geographical Location

Raja Ampat is located east of the Moluccas - Halmahera Island and northwest of the Vogelkop Peninsula of New Guinea. For archipelago comprises over 1,500 islands, the four main islands Misool, Salawati Batanta and Waigeo.

Geographical origin

Plate tectonic faults and tectonic plate drift and thus the dispersal of several endemic species with subsequent reunification of the animal species and different rock formations such as cliffs on the one hand and shallow lagoons on the other hand took care of the marine biodiversity. Coral and mangrove forests provide an ideal hiding place for the marine nursery. This new species have evolved and have become home here.

Marine biodiversity

Raja Ampat is located in the so-called Coral Triangle, a center of marine biodiversity. In a 2002 by the organization Nature Conservancy and some partners 23tägigen Expedition 505 coral species and 828 fish species have been recorded, the presence of which was in Raja Ampat unknown. The Australian ichthyologist Gerald R. Allen could count 283 species of fish in a single dive. A total of 1320 species of fish have been identified so far.

In addition to sponges, stone and octocorals are among the sessile animals especially many sea squirts, including the Green Riffseescheide and Goldseescheide. Largest Mollusk of coral reefs is a shell length of 1.1 meter giant clam Tridacna gigas reach. Among the fish species include manta rays, wrasses, surgeonfish, hussars fish, snappers, grunts, hawkfish, reef and anthias, glass and Beilfische, blennies, tiny gobies, as well as the dwarf seahorse Hippocampus bargibanti and Hippocampus denise, the and between gorgonian of the genus Muricella annella hide. The brackish water bodies are inhabited, among others, of protecting fish. The region also the most important nesting site in the Pacific region is the largest turtle in the world, the leatherback turtle ( Dermochelys coriacea ).

Among the newly discovered fish species counts referred to in English "Walking Shark" bambooshark Hemiscyllium henryi, which can run along the ocean floor with its pectoral fins.

The entire area is candidate for the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Hazard potential

The area has not been affected by the El Niño phenomenon and is therefore considered as a possible source for the recolonization highly endangered coral reefs in other Indonesia and the Philippines. However, it is threatened by dynamite and cyanide fishing and deforestation.

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