Mangrove Forest in New Caledonia

Mangrove forests play an essential role in the ecology of the New Caledonia Lagoon. They provide a nursery area for a multitude of fish and invertebrates and form a bio-filter that helps to reduce the movement of sediments from the land to the sea. Mangrove trees have special roots and other physiological adaptations that enable them to live in salt water environments.

Mangrove areas have been subjected to extensive damage throughout the tropics during the last hundred years. They have been filled in for a variety of reasons, including road building, land reclamation, waste disposal, and aquaculture. Mangrove forests have also been cut down for firewood or used as peri-urban slums. Mangrove forests are considered to be a seriously endangered ecosystem.

This particular mangrove area is in protected embayment on the southeastern end of the New Caledonia Island Grande Terre. It is an estuary for a river which has no human habitation anywhere on its watershed.

Unlike many estuaries the water here is normally clear and free of sediment. Fish and huge mangrove crabs are found in the roots of the mangroves. If you look right down into the roots you can see two mangrove crabs just below the surface of the water.

Pacific Ocean / New Caledonia

Lat: 23° 19' 13.38" S
Long: 166° 51' 36" E

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Precision is: Unknown / Undeclared.

Canon 5D, Sigma 8mm, Nodal Ninja pano head clamped to a mangrove root.