Pitti, also known as Pakshipitti (''pakshi'' meaning "bird" in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...

, Telugu and Tamil), is an uninhabited

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

islet An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanen ...

in the Union Territory of

Lakshadweep Lakshadweep (), also known as Laccadives (), is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands in the Arabian sea, located off the Malabar Coast. The name ''Lakshadweep'' means "one lakh islands" in Sanskrit, though the Lac ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Geography

It is located at about 24 km to the north of

Kavaratti Kavaratti is the capital of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep in India. Kavaratti is a census town as well as the name of the atoll upon which the town stands. It is well known for its pristine white sand beaches and calm lagoons, which makes ...

, 37 km to the east of

Agatti Agatti Island is a 7.6 km long island, situated on a coral atoll called Agatti atoll in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, India. It is west of the city of Kochi. Geography Agatti is located about 364 km off Kannur, 394 km off ...

and 42.5 km to the south-southwest of

Amini Island Amini is a census town in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, India. It is also the name of the island where the town stands and of the atoll that contains that island. It lies west of the city of Kochi. History Amini Island was one of the ...

. The island is low and arid and, lacking adequate anchorage points, of difficult accessibility. There is another island with the same name in Lakshadweep which is part of the

Kalpeni Kalpeni is an inhabited Atoll in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, India. It has a distance of west of the city of Kochi. Geography Kalpeni is west from the port of Kochi and lies south of Andrott and to the NNE of Minicoy, with the br ...

Atoll. Pitti Island is 300 × 200 m and devoid of vegetation. There is a dark rock on the eastern side and several stone cairns.

Ecology

Pitti is an important nesting place for

pelagic bird The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean, and can be further divided into regions by depth (as illustrated on the right). The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or wa ...

s such as the sooty tern (''Sterna fuliginosa''), the

greater crested tern The greater crested tern Retrieved 28 February 2012 (''Thalasseus bergii''), also called crested tern or swift tern, is a tern in the family Laridae that nests in dense colonies on coastlines and islands in the tropical and subtropical Old World ...

(''Sterna bergii'') and the

brown noddy The brown noddy or common noddy (''Anous stolidus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. The largest of the noddies, it can be told from the closely related black noddy by its larger size and plumage, which is dark brown rather than black. The b ...

(''Anous stolidus''). The birds nest side by side, but not intermixed, on the dry coral rubble. There is a seasonal pattern in the breeding period of the birds. Since it has no protecting reef surrounding it, the islet is periodically rinsed by wave action and there is no accumulation of guano on it.

Pitti Bank

Pitti is located at the southern end of Pitti Bank, a largely submerged atoll, on the same

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

. Pitti Bank, also oriented along a northeast–southwest axis, is 49 km long, in the northern part from 2 to 7 km wide and in the southern part up to 18 km wide. The

11th parallel north The 11th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 11 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, the Indian Ocean, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Ocean, Central America, South America and the Atlantic Ocean. ...

passes across the bank. Pitti Bank may be considered a largely submerged and sunken atoll, with an estimated

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') ...

area of , with just the two islands Amini and Pitti remaining at its opposite ends.

Administration

The island belongs to the

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

Kavaratti Island Kavaratti is the capital of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep in India. Kavaratti is a census town as well as the name of the atoll upon which the town stands. It is well known for its pristine white sand beaches and calm lagoons, which makes ...

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administ ...

References

*Mondreti, R., Davidar, P. & Grémillet, D. (2018)
"Illegal egg harvesting and population decline in a key pelagic seabird colony of the Eastern Indian Ocean"
''

Marine Ornithology The Pacific Seabird Group (PSG) is an international professional ornithological society based in the US, dedicated to the study and conservation of Pacific seabirds and their environment. The objectives of the Pacific Seabird Group are exclusively ...

''. 46: 103–107.

External links

Hydrographic Description (Indian Ocean Pilot)Lagoon sizesList of AtollsAn ornithological expedition to the Lakshadweep archipelagoSources towards a history of the Laccadive Islands
Islands of Lakshadweep Atolls of India Important Bird Areas of Lakshadweep Uninhabited islands of India {{Lakshadweep-geo-stub