TRUK LAGOON: HARBORING AQUATIC LIFE ARTIFICIAL REEF

TRUK LAGOON:

Truk Lagoon was a Japanese stronghold during World War II. On February 16, 1944, the United States attacked this Japanese naval base. When all was done, over 70 ships and 400 aircraft were destroyed or sunk [War History, 11/20/03]. Many of these wrecks now lie on the bottom of Truk Lagoon.

Now a haven for sport divers, Truk Lagoon offers some of the best diving because of the abundant artificial reefs. Coral and other native species have taken over the ships and planes, creating a colorful backdrop for a very important historical site. The Truk Lagoon artificial reef is a very successful example of what can happen on an artificial reef. Figure 3 shows a few pictures taken from Truk Lagoon.

Figure 1: Coral growth on the Sankisan Maru ship of the

Japanese war fleet during WWII. As shown, many types of

Coral have inhabited this sunken derelict.

Figure 2: A gun from the deck of the Aikoku Maru

of the Japanese fleet. Once again, the gun is completely

covered in coral and crustaceans.

TRUK LAGOON: HARBORING AQUATIC LIFE ARTIFICIAL REEF

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