Fiji, the Soft Coral Capital of the World

Fiji is the “Soft Coral Capital of the World” for its extensive, diverse, and visually spectacular soft-coral communities. In particular, the Vatu-i-Ra Seascape is rich in seamounts, walls, pinnacles and bommies with upwelling water where soft corals are abundant. Fiji’s distinction as the Soft Coral Capital of the World arises from complex underwater topography, strong currents, and endless substrate where suspension-feeding soft corals can thrive. Fiji lies in the tropical South Pacific, between about 15 and 22 degrees south latitude, with islands and reefs spread across a large area. Constant oceanic currents combine with local conditions to produce a wide variation of water flow through the islands and the soft corals grow in vast numbers as a result.

Tracy and Chironephthya soft corals on the wall of Mount Mutiny, a spectacular deepwater sea mount in the Bligh Waters of Fiji, Chironephthya, Vatu I Ra Passage

Tracy and Chironephthya soft corals on the wall of Mount Mutiny, a spectacular deepwater sea mount in the Bligh Waters of Fiji.
Image ID: 41022
Species: Chironephthya soft coral, Chironephthya
Location: Vatu I Ra Passage, Bligh Waters, Viti Levu Island, Fiji

Soft corals are animals, although their branching and flower-like forms invite comparison with plants. The most prominant soft corals in Fiji are octocorals: colonial cnidarians whose polyps typically have eight tentacles around the mouth. Unlike reef-building hard corals, soft corals do not lay down massive limestone skeletons; they rely instead on flexible tissues, tiny internal skeletal elements, and water-filled support. They appear as stones, fans, trees, leathers, or fields of living color. The principal Fijian forms are Sinularia, Sarcophyton, and Lobophytum; nephthiid soft corals such as Dendronephthya and Nephthea; and tree-shaped or fan-like forms including Chironephthya, Echinogorgia, Siphonogorgia, and Subergorgia. Differentiating among them often needs specialist expertise.

Purple is the new Black. Anthias swarm around a huge purple sea fan gorgonian which lies perpendicular to prevailing currents so that it can capture plankton passing by. Gorgonians and Hard Corals on Tropical Coral Reef, Fiji Islands.
Image ID: 41026
Species: Gorgonian, Gorgonacea
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji

The most luxuriant displays of soft corals occur where water movement carries suspended food across hard surfaces: vertical walls, pinnacles, outer reef slopes, bommie faces, passages, and seamount flanks. In the Vatu-i-Ra Seascape, reefs rise from depths of more than 1,000 meters in the channel between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, and are bathed in upwelling, nutrient-rich waters. The result is that filter-feeding invertebrates, including soft corals, sponges, ascidians, and bivalves, flourish where the reef face receives this moving water. Different soft corals occupy different parts of the reef. In shallow and mid-depth zones, carpeting forms such as Sinularia, Sarcophyton, and Lobophytum dominate. With increasing depth, and especially on vertical or sloping faces, fans, trees, and nephthiid soft corals thrive.

Brilliantly colorful coral reef, with swarms of anthias fishes and soft corals, Fiji, Dendronephthya, Pseudanthias, Bligh Waters

Brilliantly colorful coral reef, with swarms of anthias fishes and soft corals, Fiji.
Image ID: 34708
Species: Anthias, Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya, Pseudanthias
Location: Bligh Waters, Fiji

Soft-coral feeding is varied but almost always relies on water movement. Octocorals are primarily suspension feeders, while some also live with photosynthetic symbionts. Leather-like soft corals in bright shallow water receive energy from symbiotic algae as well as from captured food, while many of the showier tree-like corals at depth rely only on what the current brings. Soft corals practice both sexual reproduction and asexual clonal replication. A soft coral colony that looks full, open, and flower-like in one current may appear contracted or diminished at another time. Colonies can change size over short periods by pumping water into an internal hydroskeleton to essentially inflate themselves.

Dendronephthya soft coral detail including polyps and calcium carbonate spicules, Fiji, Dendronephthya, Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island

Dendronephthya soft coral detail including polyps and calcium carbonate spicules, Fiji.
Image ID: 34715
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji

Anthias fishes, especially members of the genus Pseudanthias, are often seen in association with large soft corals and hard coral outcrops, where they forms large aggregations and feed on zooplankton. The Vatu-i-Ra fish survey notes that multiple Pseudanthias species as well as Chromis damselfishes and fusiliers are all found hovering over and amidst large soft coral colonies. Both fish and soft corals are exploiting the same plankton-rich flow. Soft corals also create habitat for smaller animals such as crustaceans, nudibranchs, brittle stars, feather stars, worms, and other invertebrates that may live on, shelter among, or prey upon soft-coral colonies.

Beautiful Dendronephthya soft corals display incredible color on Fijian coral reefs. Two crinoids (feather stars) cling to the top of the reef structure. Soft corals swell when the current is running and extend outward to capture passing plankton and food.
Image ID: 41028
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji

Namena Marine Reserve, on of the finest areas to dive in order to see beautiful soft coral displays, was established in 1997 and is the largest no-take reserve in Fiji. It is roughly 60 square kilometers encompassing a horseshoe-shaped barrier reef and Namenalala Island, south of Vanua Levu, with a high diversity of corals, invertebrates, and more than 1,000 fish species. The protection is based on Fiji's marine tenure system, or qoliqoli, in which local communities manage traditional fishing grounds. Vatu-i-Ra, in the Bligh Waters between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, is another excellent soft-coral region and is my favorite place to dive. The Vatu-i-Ra Conservation Park encompasses Vatu-i-Ra Island (a critical seabird habitat) and more than 100 square kilometers of reefs, lagoons, terraces, and pinnacles off the northern coast of Viti Levu. Nearly 80 percent of the park is designated no-take with the remainder managed as catch-and-release for sustainable recreational fishing. For reaching both Namena and Vatu-i-Ra, my favorite dive boat is Nai'a, a 120-foot by 30-foot Dutch-built steel vessel that began operating in Fiji in 1993. Nai'a operates in the Bligh Water, Vatu-i-Ra, E6 & Mount Mutiny, Wakaya, Gau, Makogai and Namena, and sometimes, Somosomo Strait and Taveuni.

Spectacularly colorful coral reef, with swarms of anthias fishes and soft corals, Fiji, Dendronephthya, Tubastrea micrantha, Pseudanthias, Vatu I Ra Passage, Bligh Waters, Viti Levu Island

Spectacularly colorful coral reef, with swarms of anthias fishes and soft corals, Fiji.
Image ID: 41029
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Black sun coral, Anthias, Dendronephthya, Tubastrea micrantha, Pseudanthias
Location: Vatu I Ra Passage, Bligh Waters, Viti Levu Island, Fiji

Beautiful South Pacific coral reef, with gorgonian sea fans, schooling anthias fish and colorful dendronephthya soft corals, Fiji, Dendronephthya, Gorgonacea, Pseudanthias, Tubastrea micrantha

Beautiful South Pacific coral reef, with gorgonian sea fans, schooling anthias fish and colorful dendronephthya soft corals, Fiji.
Image ID: 31312
Species: Anthias, Black sun coral, Dendronephthya soft coral, Gorgonian, Dendronephthya, Gorgonacea, Pseudanthias, Tubastrea micrantha
Location: Fiji

Some References:

WWF International Corals Initiative: Fiji Barrier Reef marine ecoregion. Fiji reef extent, diversity of reef types, ecological significance, and conservation pressures.
South Pacific Commission: Report on visits of the Deep Sea Fisheries Development Project to Fiji. Fiji's broad latitude-longitude setting and the range of island and reef types in the archipelago.
Ganachaud et al.: Southwest Pacific Ocean Circulation and Climate Experiment, Part I. Southwest Pacific circulation context, including the South Equatorial Current and jet structure influenced by Fiji, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia.
NOAA Ocean Service: Types of soft coral.
Australian Institute of Marine Science: Corals. General coral biology, colonial polyps, budding, photosymbiosis, and feeding.
Obura and Mangubhai: Coral Reef Biodiversity in the Vatu-i-Ra Seascape in Fiji. Soft-coral growth forms, genera, reef zones, upwelling context, fish and invertebrate community notes, and Vatu-i-Ra habitat descriptions.
van de Water et al.: Host-microbe interactions in octocoral holobionts. Octocoral feeding and symbiosis context.
Davis, Harasti, and Smith: Extension of Dendronephthya australis soft corals in tidal current flows. Dendronephthya feeding ecology, current dependence, and hydroskeleton behavior.
Marine Biology: Extension of Dendronephthya australis soft corals in tidal current flows
NOAA Coral Disease and Health Consortium: Coral Reproduction. Coral reproductive stages, planula larvae, dispersal, settlement, and juvenile development.
Larkin et al.: A glimmer of hope for an endangered temperate soft coral. Soft-coral reproductive strategies in Dendronephthya australis, including sexual reproduction and asexual clonal replication.
FishBase: Pseudanthias squamipinnis. Anthias habitat, aggregation behavior, and zooplankton feeding.
Wildlife Conservation Society Fiji: Namena Marine Reserve.
Wildlife Conservation Society Fiji: Vatu-i-Ra Conservation Park.
NAI'A: Liveaboard NAI'A

Spectacularly colorful dendronephthya soft corals on South Pacific reef, reaching out into strong ocean currents to capture passing planktonic food, Fiji.
Image ID: 31322
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya
Location: Fiji

Closeup view of colorful dendronephthya soft corals, reaching out into strong ocean currents to capture passing planktonic food, Fiji, Dendronephthya

Closeup view of colorful dendronephthya soft corals, reaching out into strong ocean currents to capture passing planktonic food, Fiji.
Image ID: 34709
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya
Location: Fiji

Leather coral, Sinularia sp, Fiji, Sinularia, Vatu I Ra Passage, Bligh Waters, Viti Levu Island

Leather coral, Sinularia sp., Fiji.
Image ID: 34711
Species: Sinularia soft coral, Sinularia
Location: Vatu I Ra Passage, Bligh Waters, Viti Levu Island, Fiji

Beautiful South Pacific coral reef, with Plexauridae sea fans, schooling anthias fish and colorful dendronephthya soft corals, Fiji, Dendronephthya, Gorgonacea, Pseudanthias

Beautiful South Pacific coral reef, with Plexauridae sea fans, schooling anthias fish and colorful dendronephthya soft corals, Fiji.
Image ID: 34716
Species: Anthias, Dendronephthya soft coral, Gorgonian, Dendronephthya, Gorgonacea, Pseudanthias
Location: Fiji

Colorful Chironephthya soft coral colonies in Fiji, hanging off wall, resembling sea fans or gorgonians, Chironephthya, Vatu I Ra Passage, Bligh Waters, Viti Levu Island

Colorful Chironephthya soft coral colonies in Fiji, hanging off wall, resembling sea fans or gorgonians.
Image ID: 34718
Species: Chironephthya soft coral, Chironephthya
Location: Vatu I Ra Passage, Bligh Waters, Viti Levu Island, Fiji

Brilliantlly colorful coral reef, with swarms of anthias fishes and soft corals, Fiji, Dendronephthya, Pseudanthias, Bligh Waters

Brilliantlly colorful coral reef, with swarms of anthias fishes and soft corals, Fiji.
Image ID: 34722
Species: Anthias, Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya, Pseudanthias
Location: Bligh Waters, Fiji

Closeup view of colorful dendronephthya soft corals, reaching out into strong ocean currents to capture passing planktonic food, Fiji.
Image ID: 34728
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji

Dendronephthya soft coral detail including polyps and calcium carbonate spicules, Fiji.
Image ID: 34738
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji

Anthias fishes school in strong currents over a Fijian coral reef, with various hard and soft corals, sea fans and anemones on display. Fiji, Pseudanthias

Anthias fishes school in strong currents over a Fijian coral reef, with various hard and soft corals, sea fans and anemones on display. Fiji.
Image ID: 34741
Species: Anthias, Pseudanthias
Location: Fiji

Spectacularly colorful dendronephthya soft corals on South Pacific reef, reaching out into strong ocean currents to capture passing planktonic food, Fiji.
Image ID: 31335
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya
Location: Nigali Passage, Gau Island, Lomaiviti Archipelago, Fiji