Bakhaw Lalaki
Rhizophora apiculata
The dominant mangrove in the replanted stand. Its prop roots are the nursery for most reef fish on the site.
Gallery
Inside the sanctuary
Placeholder artwork pending the sanctuary photo shoot. Select any frame to enlarge — use the arrow keys to move between images.
Field guide
What you will see
Recorded across the three zones of the sanctuary. Maintained by the sanctuary office, so this list grows as the monitoring data does.
Mangrove edge
Juvenile Mangrove Snapper
Lutjanus argentimaculatus
Shelters among the prop roots until large enough to move out to the reef. Evidence that the mangrove nursery is working.
Giant Clam
Tridacna gigas
Seeded across the shallow seagrass beds. The mantle colours come from symbiotic algae living in the tissue.
Green Sea Turtle
Chelonia mydas
Grazes the seagrass beds. Protected under Philippine law; keep three metres distance and never block the path to the surface.
Blue Sea Star
Linckia laevigata
Common across the seagrass flats. Lifting one out of the water suffocates it - look, do not handle.
Horned Sea Star
Protoreaster nodosus
Heavy-bodied star of the seagrass beds, easily spotted from the surface in the shallows.
Clark's Anemonefish
Amphiprion clarkii
Lives in host anemones on the reef slope. Will defend its anemone against snorkellers who drift too close.
Great Barracuda
Sphyraena barracuda
The sanctuary's signature sight: a compact school of several hundred holding station along the reef slope. Curious but harmless to snorkellers.
Bumphead Parrotfish
Bolbometopon muricatum
Grazes coral and excretes the fine white sand the beach is made of. A single adult produces hundreds of kilos a year.
Table Coral
Acropora hyacinthus
Forms the wide flat plates along the drop-off. Extremely fragile - one fin kick can undo twenty years of growth.
See it for yourself
Guided trails run daily. The barracuda school is most reliably found on the early departure, when the water is calmest.
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