My Playground, The Coral Triangle

What is Coral Triangle?

Coral Triangle is the world's centre of marine life.

This region covers an ocean area of 5.7 million sq km. This is where you can find one third of all the world's coral reefs. There are more than 600 species of reef-building corals and over 3,000 species of reef fish can be found within the Coral Triangle. It is also home for nearly 75% of the world's mangrove species, over 45% seagrass species, 5 species of marine turtles as well as 22 species of marine mammals.The Coral Triangle includes East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia (Sabah), Papua New Guinea, Philippines and Solomon Islands.

Imagine:

All of these precious marine animals and plants concentrated within a small area (less than 1% of ocean's total surface area). A lot of these species are endemic, meaning you cannot find it anywhere else in this world.

In Sabah we are lucky to be within the Coral Triangle. KK is situated at the West Coast of Sabah and therefore is not within this area. However, this doesn't mean that marine life in KK is not important or has less value. In term of biodiversity, it is only slightly less than that of the Coral Triangle.

I love the ocean since I was a kid. I used to swim in the ocean almost every weekend with my siblings. The marine world has fascinated me since before I knew that corals are animals. And now, I am very happy and proud to know that my playground is the world's epicentre of marine biodiversity. This has strengthen my effort to conserve our precious marine resource.

I hope all Sabahan also feels the way I do. Love our environment and Mother Earth will take care of us :)

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