Morane
is an uninhabited small isolated
atoll
An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most ...
of the
Tuamotu Archipelago
The Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands (, officially ) are a French Polynesian chain of just under 80 islands and atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean. They constitute the largest chain of atolls in the world, extending (from northwest to ...
in
French Polynesia
French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...
. It is located 153 km southwest of
Maria Est, its closest neighbour. Morane Atoll is the southernmost atoll of the Tuamotus proper. It measures 5.8 km in length, 3.5 km in width and has a land area of 2.85 km
2. The
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'') an ...
has an area of 11 km
2 and has no passes.
The islands on its reef are covered with
screw pine (''Pandanus'') and
coconut
The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...
trees.
History
The first recorded westerner to sight Morane Atoll was Captain Samuel Grimwood of the ''Discoverer'', owned by the naturalist Hugh Cuming, on 15 January 1828. Its original name was Grimwood's Island. Cited as such in the "Pacific Island Names" atlas published by Bishop Museum Press, Hawaii, in 1986.
Another source gives it the name Cadmus, after the whaler . The source gives the captain's name as Cary, and the year as 1832. Actually, ''Cadmus'', Mayhew, master, was wrecked there on 4 August 1842.
Administration
Administratively Morane Atoll belongs to the commune of the
Gambier Islands
The Gambier Islands ( or ) are an archipelago in French Polynesia, located at the southeast terminus of the Tuamotu archipelago. They cover an area of , and are made up of the Mangareva Islands, a group of high islands remnants of a caldera alo ...
.
Ecology
By 2003, Morane Atoll holds one of the largest extant populations (approx. 50 individuals) of the
critically endangered
An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...
Polynesian ground-dove. It also has one of the highest concentrations of the
Tuamotu sandpiper (''Prosobonia cancellata''), with approximately 150 to 200 individuals of the species.
See also
*
Desert island
An uninhabited island, desert island, or deserted island, is an island, islet or atoll which lacks permanent human population. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereotypes ...
*
List of islands
This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water
A body of water or waterbody is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refer ...
References
*
External links
Atoll list (in French)*
Tuamotuichthys bispinosus, a new fish species from Morane Atoll
{{FrenchPolynesia-geo-stub
Atolls of the Tuamotus
Islands of the Gambier Islands
Uninhabited islands of French Polynesia