Marpi Reef or Marpi Bank is a narrow

seamount A seamount is a large geologic landform that rises from the ocean floor that does not reach to the water's surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise abru ...

lies north of

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

. With length of and in width, the reef is generally similar to the Tatsumi Reef south of

Tinian Tinian ( or ; old Japanese name: 天仁安島, ''Tenian-shima'') is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Together with uninhabited neighboring Aguiguan, it forms Tinian Municipality, one of th ...

in terms of orientation in a northeast to southwest. The peak of the seamount is at 26

fathoms A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an International Standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally-accepted non-SI unit. Hi ...

or 53 m under water surfaces. It is one of fishing points in the region, and various

cetacean Cetacea (; , ) is an infraorder of aquatic mammals that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often large size and exclusively carnivorous diet. They propel them ...

s (whales and dolphins) migrate and live in the waters including

humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hump ...

s.NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center. 2014
Cetacean Surveys of the Southern Mariana Islands: Saipan, Tinian, and Aguijan (May 30-June 14, 2014)
Retrieved on March 27, 2017

References

External links

Saipan Island (& Marpi Bank)
- the Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center Geography of the Northern Mariana Islands Seamounts of the Pacific Ocean Reefs of the United States Reefs of the Pacific Ocean {{NorthernMarianas-geo-stub