Morane is a small isolated atoll of the Tuamotu Archipelago

Tuamotus

The Tuamotus or the Tuamotu Archipelago are a chain of islands and atolls in French Polynesia. They form the largest chain of atolls in the world, spanning an area of the Pacific Ocean roughly the size of Western Europe...

 in French Polynesia

French Polynesia

French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...

. It is located 153 km southwest of Maria Est

Maria Est

Maria Atoll is a small atoll of the Tuamotu group in French Polynesia. It is located in the far southeast of the archipelago, about 72 km southwest from Marutea Sud. Maria's closest neighbour is the small atoll of Matureivavao of the Acteon Group, 56 km to the northwest.Maria Atoll is oval in...

, its closest neighbor.

Morane Atoll is the southernmost atoll of the Tuamotus. It measures 4.8 km in length with a maximum width of 3.2 km. It has a lagoon without a pass to enter it.

The islands on its reef are covered with screwpine (Pandanus) and coconut

Coconut

The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

 trees.

Morane is uninhabited.

History

The first recorded European to sight Morane Atoll was American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 whaler Nathaniel Cary in 1832. He named it "Barstow's Island" after his ship Gideon Barstow.
In some maps it appears as "Cadmus".

Ecology

Morane Atoll has one of the highest concentrations of the Tuamotu Sandpiper

Tuamotu Sandpiper

The Tuamotu Sandpiper, Prosobonia cancellata, is an endangered member of the large wader family Scolopacidae, that is endemic to the Tuamotu Islands in French Polynesia. It is sometimes placed in the monotypic genus Aechmorhynchus...

(Prosobonia cancellata), with approximately 150 to 200 individuals of the species.

External links

• Atoll list (in French)