| FishBase | Complete | Literature | Reference | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Species | Families | Species | Families | |||
| Marine | 691 | 227 | Yes | 949 | ||
| Freshwater | 1 | 1 | Yes | Kottelat, M. and T. Whitten, 1996 | ||
| Total | 687 | 226 | Yes | Watanuki, Y., 1988 | ||
| Conservation | None. |
| Geography and Climate |
Maldives is located in Southern Asia, group of atolls in the Indian Ocean, south-southwest of India. Area- comparatively about 1.7 times the size of Washington, DC.
Climate is tropical; hot, humid; dry, northeast monsoon (November to March); rainy, southwest monsoon (June to August). Terrain consists of flat, with white sandy beaches. Elevation extreme has the lowest point in Indian Ocean 0 m and highest point in unnamed location on Wilingili 24 m. Major natural resource is fish. Land use: arable land: 10%, permanent crops: 0%,
permanent pastures: 3%, forests and woodland: 3%, other: 84% (1993 est.).
Natural hazards are low level of islands that make them very sensitive to sea level rise.
Environment—current issues: depletion of freshwater aquifers threatens water supplies
Geography—note: 1,190 coral islands grouped into 26 atolls; archipelago of strategic location astride and along major sea lanes in Indian Ocean. Ref. Anonymous, 1999 |
| Hydrography |
The Maledives are a group of low-lying coral atolls. Freshwater occurs only in aquifiers and no native freshwater fish has ever been recorded. Ref. Kottelat, M. and T. Whitten, 1996 |