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National Park of American SamoaOfu Beach at the Ofu unit of the park.
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National Park of American Samoa
Corals
 
Massive lobe coral in Ofu Lagoon.
An NPS Photo by John Brooks.
Massive Porites mound coral in Ofu Lagoon.
 
The park waters are clear and warm with a diversity of coral and fish populations. View the list of Corals (many are illustrated).  Over 200 coral species occur in the territory, representing about one third of all coral species found throughout the Indo-Pacific region. Dominant genera are Montipora and Porites, followed by Pavona, Pocillopora, Psammocora and Acropora.
 

Most park waters have fringing coral reefs. The reefs typically have a reef flat or shallow backreef moat, a reef crest (often emergent at low tide), surge zone (with spur and groove formation on the south-west windward side) and a sharp reef front dropping 5-10 m to a reef terrace and gradually descending to deep water. 

 
Safety Caution.  The channels, or awa, draining tide or surge buildup from the park's lagoons carry very strong rip currents.  Beware of these areas.  The park has no search or rescue capability.  The Territory has limited water resuce equipment.  Medical care is limited.  The nearest Coast Guard capability is in Honolulu.
noddy tern
Natural History Guide to the Park
The on-line version of our latest book
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 Lined tang button
Fish Inventory
Lots of pictures of our local fishes
more...
 Coral head button
Coral Inventory
More than 200 species, many illustrated
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sea slug
Marine Invertebrates,
illustrated list
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Pacific golden plover in breeding plumage—soon to be flying 5,500 miles to the Alaskan Arctic  

Did You Know?
During northern summers, three shorebirds--plover, turnstone, and tattler--nest in Alaska and northern Canada. After nesting, they fly non-stop over 3,000 miles of open ocean to Hawaii. After briefly resting there, they fly more thousands of miles to Samoa. The round-trip is 11,000 miles.

Last Updated: November 20, 2009 at 18:38 EST