Pacific Oceans. Here, an overview is given of well-studied
locations of Madagascar, Mayotte, and the Maldives.
Madagascar
Numerous coral reefs are developed along the 4,000 km
long coastline of Madagascar. They are much more common on the western than the eastern side. The climate is
tropical-subtropical. Strong SW winds predominate
throughout the year, and cyclones reach the island frequently. There are numerous fringing reefs along the western Madagascar coast, but the best studied reef system is
the offshore Grand Récif near Toliara (formerly Tuléar),
at the southwestern coast of Madagascar (Figure 2). Grand
Récif, is about 1.5 km across and 25 km long, and the
Indian Ocean Reefs, Figure 2 Map and location of Grand Recif, Madagascar (from Pichon, 1971).
INDIAN OCEAN REEFS
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