Desnœufs Island is an island in Seychelles, lying at the southern edge of the
Amirantes group, in the
Outer Islands, with a distance of 321 km south of
Victoria, Seychelles
Victoria () is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Seychelles, situated on the north-eastern side of Mahé, Seychelles, Mahé island, the archipelago's main island. The city was first established as the seat of the British Empire, Bri ...
.
History
The origin of the name seems to be its
French meaning, "one of nine", as it is one of the nine main islands of the Amirantes.
Geography
Desnœufs Island is the southernmost island of the Amirantes chain, is a nearly circular island with a high rim surrounding a central depression (instead of a lagoon). It is up to 5.5 m high. Most of the land is exposed
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
, after the
guano has been exploited in the 20th century. The island has a fringing reef, and the reef flat is narrow. Landing can be extremely difficult, with heavy
swells sweeping round the island even during the calmest sea conditions.
Administration
The island belongs to
Outer Islands District.
Being an island with a small population, there are not any government buildings or services. For many services, people have to go to
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, which is a difficult task.
Economics
The occasional villagers of
Marie Louise Island
Marie Louise Island is a low-lying coral island in the Amirantes group of the Outer Islands of the Republic of Seychelles, in the western Indian Ocean, with a distance of 308 km south-west of Victoria, Seychelles.
History
The Island was n ...
used to poach eggs illegally on the island when the island was a base for the commercial exploitation of seabirds, especially the eggs of the
sooty tern (''Onychoprion fuscatus''). recent years the island was made a reservation, and is visited once a year shortly by IDC members and scientists from Mahe.
There are ruins on the island from the time of the poaching.
Flora and fauna
The terrestrial vegetation on the island is limited because of the high number of seabirds. The island is almost treeless and is covered by grasses and other low-growing plants.
It has been identified as an
Important Bird Area (IBA) by
BirdLife International because it supports a breeding population of 430,000 pairs of
sooty terns, and a large number of
boobies
A booby is a seabird in the genus ''Sula'', part of the family Sulidae. Boobies are closely related to the gannets (''Morus''), which were formerly included in ''Sula''.
Systematics and evolution
The genus ''Sula'' was introduced by the Fren ...
.
Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...
and
hawksbill
The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution, that is large ...
sea turtle
Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhe ...
s also nest there.
The island is also known for its rich fish life.
Image gallery
File:Seychelles large map.jpg, Map 1
File:Outer Islands in Seychelles.svg, District Map
References
External links
National Bureau of Statistics2010 Sailing directions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Desnoeufs, Seychelles
Islands of Outer Islands (Seychelles)
Important Bird Areas of Seychelles
Seabird colonies