Synonyms
Ellice Island; The main island of Tuvalu
Definition
An atoll of Tuvalu located in the tropical South Pacific.
Introduction
Funafuti Atoll (8°31′ S, 179°12′ E) forms a part of the Tuvalu Group (formerly the Ellice Islands). It is a typical atoll composed of ∼33 reef islands (a total land area of 2.4 km2) and a lagoon of ∼18-km diameter (275 km2). The islands are formed from fossil coral limestone and calcareous marine carbonates, particularly larger foraminifera. The lagoon has three main deep channels. Additional lagoon/ocean water interchange takes place over the reef rim, especially on the western side where the islets are small and widely separated. A total of 36 species of coral were recorded in 1983 and the blue coral Heliopora coerulea was abundant on the western rim (Buckley, 1985). A variety of corals occur on the reef slope and reef buttresses including Acropora, Pocillopora, Montipora, Millepora, Acanthastrea, Favia, etc. Over 200 fish species and 400 mollusks have...
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Ohde, S. (2011). Funafuti Atoll. In: Hopley, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2639-2_83
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