Author: Beginer Subhan (IPB)

'Pavona City', that was the name of the last dive point of the Southwest Maluku Expedition Ecology Team today (11/11) on Sermata Island. The waters on this island have an underwater topography quite different from the locations we encountered earlier during the expedition.

The slope of the wall underwater in these waters filled with soft coral (soft coral) is almost 90 degrees. This is common in the waters of Indonesia's southern small islands. But as a coral researcher, there was one sight that I found particularly interesting on this dive: the abundance of hard coral with the genera Pavona covering the seabed. At least, these coverings were visible along the transect we set up to collect data.

These stump-like or submasive coral coverings were seen at depths of 5-18 meters with over 200 meters in length. During my time as a coral researcher and diver, this was my first experience of seeing such extensive Pavona coral cover. Based on my experience so far, Indonesia's shallow water bottom is dominated by branching corals such as Porites, Acropora, or Montipora.

Among the Pavona there are also soft corals of the Sarcophyton genera that add different colors and beautify the scenery in 'Pavona City'. "It's like seeing a flower garden under the sea," said Indra (IPB), as he told friends from the Social Team in the evening.

My colleagues and I from the Ecology Team are grateful to have been given the opportunity to join this expedition initiated by WWF-Indonesia, because it made us realize that the archipelago's underwater world is not only beautiful, but also unique and still has a million mysteries to solve.