The Coral Triangle

Six countries. Six million square kilometres of sea. Three-quarters of the world's corals. This is the guide to the richest ocean on Earth.

The Coral Triangle – the waters of Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands – holds 76 percent of the world's coral species, 37 percent of its reef fish and more than 100 million people who depend on it. The Coral Triangle explains how this extraordinary sea works, takes you through it country by country, and shows you how to dive, snorkel and travel it well.

Inside this book:
• Nine original maps built from real scientific data: the Triangle's boundary, the Indonesian Throughflow, coral reef extent, coastal habitats, water clarity, 2024 bleaching heat stress, oil slicks, marine protected areas and Indonesia's dive regions
• How the Triangle works: the currents that feed the reefs, Darwin's three reef types, mangroves and seagrass, coral reef science, Wallace's Line and why this sea holds more life than any other
• The deep and the open blue: mesophotic reefs, seamounts, Banda Sea hammerheads, whales in the Ombai Strait and the 7,000-metre Weber Deep
• Thirty species cards: mantas, whale sharks, dugongs, threshers, mola, pygmy seahorses, blue-ringed octopus and the corals themselves
• The six nations: Raja Ampat, Komodo, Wakatobi, Lembeh, Tubbataha, Malapascua, Sipadan, Atauro, Kimbe Bay, Iron Bottom Sound and more – seasons, hubs, parks and highlights
• The sea peoples: the Bajau sea nomads, the pinisi shipwrights of Sulawesi and the village laws that protected reefs long before marine parks
• A Triangle under pressure: bleaching, murky water, oil, fishing and plastic – what satellites see, what it means, and what is being done
• Travel and dive responsibly: a year on the reef, trip planning, encounter codes, snorkelling and freediving, and how you can help

Written by Discover Indonesia, the guide series for travellers who look closely. A companion to Diving Indonesia. Updated for 2027.