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Indo-Pacific
 
 
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The Indo-Pacific is a biogeographic
Biogeography

Biogeography is the study of the distribution of biodiversity over space and time. It aims to reveal where organisms live, and at what abundance....
 region of the earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
, the western and central Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
, and the seas connecting the two in the general area of Indonesia
Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
. It does not include the temperate and polar regions of the Indian and Pacific oceans, and the Tropical Eastern Pacific
Tropical Eastern Pacific

The Tropical Eastern Pacific is one of the twelve marine realms that cover the shallow oceans of the world. The Tropical Eastern Pacific extends along the Pacific Coast of the Americas, from the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula in the north to northern Peru in the south....
, along the Pacific coast of the Americas
Americas

The Americas are the region of the Western hemisphere that consists of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions....
, is also a distinct marine realm.

The term is especially useful in marine biology
Marine biology

Marine biology is the scientific study of living organisms in the ocean or other Marine or brackish bodies of water.Given that in biology many scientific classification, families and Genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather than on taxon...
, ichthyology
Ichthyology

Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish. This includes skeletal fish , cartilaginous fish , and jawless fish . At least 30,700 fish species have been described, comprising a majority of vertebrates....
, and similar fields, since many marine habitats
Habitat (ecology)

A habitat is an ecological or Natural_environment area that is inhabited by a particular animal or plant species. It is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds a species population....
 are continuously connected from Madagascar
Madagascar

Madagascar, or Republic of Madagascar , is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the List of islands by area, and is home to 5% of the world's plant and animal species, of which more than 80% are Endemism to Madagascar....
 to Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
 and Oceania
Oceania ecozone

Oceania is the smallest of the world's terrestrial ecozones, and unique in not including any continental land mass. The ecozone includes the Pacific Ocean islands of Micronesia, the Fiji, and most of Polynesia ....
, and a number of species occur over that range, but are not found in the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
.

WWF
World Wide Fund for Nature

The World Wide Fund for Nature is an Internationalism non-governmental organization for the Conservation biology, Environmental science and Restoration ecology of the environment , formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in the United States and Canada....
 and Nature Conservancy divide the Indo-Pacific into three realms (or subrealms), and each of these into a number of marine provinces.
Western Indo-Pacific
Western Indo-Pacific

The Western Indo-Pacific is a biogeography region of the earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters of the eastern and central Indian Ocean. It is part of the larger Indo-Pacific, which includes the tropical Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the seas connecting the two in the general area of Indonesia....
 realm covers the western and central portion of the Indian Ocean, including the East coast of Africa, the Red Sea
Red Sea

The Red Sea is a salt water inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb sound and the Gulf of Aden....
, Gulf of Aden
Gulf of Aden

The Gulf of Aden is located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait....
, Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in the Southwest Asian region, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Historically and commonly known as the Persian Gulf, this body of water is sometimes Persian Gulf naming dispute referred to as the Arabian Gulf by certain Arab countries or simply The Gulf, although nei...
, Arabian Sea
Arabian Sea

The Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui, the north-east point of Somalia, Socotra, Kanyakumari in India, and the western coast of Sri Lanka....
, Bay of Bengal
Bay of Bengal

The Bay of Bengal is a Headlands and bays that forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered by India and Sri Lanka to the West, Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal to the North , and Myanmar, southern part of Thailand and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the East....
, and Andaman Sea
Andaman Sea

The Andaman Sea is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Myanmar, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands; it is part of the Indian Ocean....
.
Central Indo-Pacific
Central Indo-Pacific

The Central Indo-Pacific is a biogeography region of the earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters of the western Pacific Ocean, the eastern Indian Ocean, and the connecting seas....
 includes the numerous seas and straits connecting the Indian and Pacific oceans, including the seas surrounding the Indonesian archipelago (with the exception of Sumatra
Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the list of islands by area in the world ....
's northwest coast, which is part of the Western Indo-Pacific), the South China Sea
South China Sea

The South China Sea is a marginal sea*south of China,*west of the Philippines,*north west of Sabah , Sarawak and Brunei,*north of Indonesia,...
, the Philippine Sea
Philippine Sea

The Philippine Sea is a marginal sea east and north of the Philippines occupying an estimated surface area of 90, 000 mi? on the western part of the North Pacific Ocean....
, the north coast of Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, and the seas surrounding New Guinea
New Guinea

New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the List of islands by area, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period....
, western and central Micronesia
Micronesia

Micronesia , from the Greek language mikros and nesos , is a subregion of Oceania, comprising hundreds of small islands in the Pacific Ocean....
, New Caledonia
New Caledonia

New Caledonia , is a "sui generis collectivity" of France located in the subregion of Melanesia in the Oceania. It comprises a main island , the Loyalty Islands, and several smaller islands....
, the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands

For the group of islands rather than the nation, see Solomon Islands .The Solomon Islands is a country in Melanesia, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands....
, Vanuatu
Vanuatu

Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, north-east of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and south of the Solomon Islands, near New Zealand....
, Fiji
Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of the Fiji Islands , is an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean east of Vanuatu, west of Tonga and south of Tuvalu....
, and Tonga
Tonga

The Kingdom of Tonga in the south Pacific Ocean comprises an archipelago of 171 islands, 48 of them inhabited, stretching over a distance of about 800 kilometres in a north-south line....
.






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Encyclopedia


The Indo-Pacific is a biogeographic
Biogeography

Biogeography is the study of the distribution of biodiversity over space and time. It aims to reveal where organisms live, and at what abundance....
 region of the earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
, the western and central Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
, and the seas connecting the two in the general area of Indonesia
Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
. It does not include the temperate and polar regions of the Indian and Pacific oceans, and the Tropical Eastern Pacific
Tropical Eastern Pacific

The Tropical Eastern Pacific is one of the twelve marine realms that cover the shallow oceans of the world. The Tropical Eastern Pacific extends along the Pacific Coast of the Americas, from the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula in the north to northern Peru in the south....
, along the Pacific coast of the Americas
Americas

The Americas are the region of the Western hemisphere that consists of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions....
, is also a distinct marine realm.

The term is especially useful in marine biology
Marine biology

Marine biology is the scientific study of living organisms in the ocean or other Marine or brackish bodies of water.Given that in biology many scientific classification, families and Genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather than on taxon...
, ichthyology
Ichthyology

Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish. This includes skeletal fish , cartilaginous fish , and jawless fish . At least 30,700 fish species have been described, comprising a majority of vertebrates....
, and similar fields, since many marine habitats
Habitat (ecology)

A habitat is an ecological or Natural_environment area that is inhabited by a particular animal or plant species. It is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds a species population....
 are continuously connected from Madagascar
Madagascar

Madagascar, or Republic of Madagascar , is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the List of islands by area, and is home to 5% of the world's plant and animal species, of which more than 80% are Endemism to Madagascar....
 to Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
 and Oceania
Oceania ecozone

Oceania is the smallest of the world's terrestrial ecozones, and unique in not including any continental land mass. The ecozone includes the Pacific Ocean islands of Micronesia, the Fiji, and most of Polynesia ....
, and a number of species occur over that range, but are not found in the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
.

Subdivisions

The WWF
World Wide Fund for Nature

The World Wide Fund for Nature is an Internationalism non-governmental organization for the Conservation biology, Environmental science and Restoration ecology of the environment , formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in the United States and Canada....
 and Nature Conservancy divide the Indo-Pacific into three realms (or subrealms), and each of these into a number of marine provinces.

Western Indo-Pacific

The Western Indo-Pacific
Western Indo-Pacific

The Western Indo-Pacific is a biogeography region of the earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters of the eastern and central Indian Ocean. It is part of the larger Indo-Pacific, which includes the tropical Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the seas connecting the two in the general area of Indonesia....
 realm covers the western and central portion of the Indian Ocean, including the East coast of Africa, the Red Sea
Red Sea

The Red Sea is a salt water inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb sound and the Gulf of Aden....
, Gulf of Aden
Gulf of Aden

The Gulf of Aden is located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait....
, Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in the Southwest Asian region, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Historically and commonly known as the Persian Gulf, this body of water is sometimes Persian Gulf naming dispute referred to as the Arabian Gulf by certain Arab countries or simply The Gulf, although nei...
, Arabian Sea
Arabian Sea

The Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui, the north-east point of Somalia, Socotra, Kanyakumari in India, and the western coast of Sri Lanka....
, Bay of Bengal
Bay of Bengal

The Bay of Bengal is a Headlands and bays that forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered by India and Sri Lanka to the West, Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal to the North , and Myanmar, southern part of Thailand and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the East....
, and Andaman Sea
Andaman Sea

The Andaman Sea is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Myanmar, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands; it is part of the Indian Ocean....
.

Central Indo-Pacific

The Central Indo-Pacific
Central Indo-Pacific

The Central Indo-Pacific is a biogeography region of the earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters of the western Pacific Ocean, the eastern Indian Ocean, and the connecting seas....
 includes the numerous seas and straits connecting the Indian and Pacific oceans, including the seas surrounding the Indonesian archipelago (with the exception of Sumatra
Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the list of islands by area in the world ....
's northwest coast, which is part of the Western Indo-Pacific), the South China Sea
South China Sea

The South China Sea is a marginal sea*south of China,*west of the Philippines,*north west of Sabah , Sarawak and Brunei,*north of Indonesia,...
, the Philippine Sea
Philippine Sea

The Philippine Sea is a marginal sea east and north of the Philippines occupying an estimated surface area of 90, 000 mi? on the western part of the North Pacific Ocean....
, the north coast of Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, and the seas surrounding New Guinea
New Guinea

New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the List of islands by area, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period....
, western and central Micronesia
Micronesia

Micronesia , from the Greek language mikros and nesos , is a subregion of Oceania, comprising hundreds of small islands in the Pacific Ocean....
, New Caledonia
New Caledonia

New Caledonia , is a "sui generis collectivity" of France located in the subregion of Melanesia in the Oceania. It comprises a main island , the Loyalty Islands, and several smaller islands....
, the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands

For the group of islands rather than the nation, see Solomon Islands .The Solomon Islands is a country in Melanesia, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands....
, Vanuatu
Vanuatu

Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, north-east of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and south of the Solomon Islands, near New Zealand....
, Fiji
Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of the Fiji Islands , is an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean east of Vanuatu, west of Tonga and south of Tuvalu....
, and Tonga
Tonga

The Kingdom of Tonga in the south Pacific Ocean comprises an archipelago of 171 islands, 48 of them inhabited, stretching over a distance of about 800 kilometres in a north-south line....
. The Central Indo-Pacific, due in part to its central location at the meeting of two oceans, has the greatest diversity of coral
Coral

Corals are marine organisms from the class Anthozoa and exist as small sea anemone?like polyps, typically in colonies of many identical individuals....
s and mangrove
Mangrove

Mangroves are trees and shrubs that grow in saline water coastal habitats in the tropics and subtropics. The word is used in at least three senses: most broadly to refer to the habitat and entire plant assemblage or mangal, for which the terms mangrove swamp and mangrove forest are also used, to refer to all trees and...
s.

Eastern Indo-Pacific

The Eastern Indo-Pacific surrounds the mostly volcanic islands of the central Pacific Ocean, extending from the Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands

The Marshall Islands , officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands , is a Micronesian island nation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator....
 through central and southeastern Polynesia
Polynesia

Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising a large grouping of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean....
 to Easter Island
Easter Island

Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeastern most point of the Polynesian triangle. The island is a special territory of Chile....
 and Hawaii
Hawaii

File:Pahoehoe and Aa flows at Hawaii.jpgThe State of Hawaii is a U.S. state in the United States, located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia....
.