Lagoons of New Caledonia Click Image to Enlarge  (JPG) (630,699 bytes) ( 2,910 x 1,887 )

In 2008, UNESCO added the Lagoons of New Caledonia to the World Heritage Site list. This serial site comprises six marine clusters that represent the main diversity of coral reefs and associated ecosystems in the French Pacific Ocean archipelago of New Caledonia and one of the three most extensive reef systems in the world. These Lagoons are of exceptional natural beauty. They feature a remarkable diversity of coral and fish species and a continuum of habitats from mangroves to seagrasses with the worldÔÇÖs most diverse concentration of reef structures. The Lagoons of New Caledonia display intact ecosystems, with healthy populations of large predators, and a great number and diversity of big fish. They provide habitat to a number of emblematic or threatened marine species such as turtles, whales or dugongs whose population here is the third largest in the world. The image was acquired August 23, 2003, covers an area of 28.3 x 43.7 km, and is located at 20.2 degrees south latitude, 164.2 degrees east longitude.