Muliāva (Rose Atoll)

The Rose Atoll (Muliāva), one of the best dive sites in American Samoa, is 150 miles east of Pago Pago Harbor. The rose-colored crustose coralline algae that dominate the area give the atoll its name. Rose Atoll is one of the world's smallest atolls, with only.03 square miles of land and 2.5 square miles of lagoon surrounded by a narrow barrier reef and protected by the US Fish and Wildlife Service as a National Wildlife Refuge. Scientists have documented a unique environment within the archipelago at Muliāva which includes large numbers of fish and a unique coral community with over 270 species of reef fish.

The Vailuluˊu Seamount, a submerged volcanic cone with a diverse biological community that includes crinoids, octocorals, sponges, and cutthroat eels, is also part of this area. In the crater of the seamount, a 1,100-foot-tall volcanic cone known as Nafanua has grown since 2003. Scientists predict that Nafanua will break the surface of the sea in the coming decades, forming a new island in the Samoan archipelago. Several types of hydrothermal vents on the seamount cone provide habitat for an unusual group of organisms, including microbial mats and polychaete worms.

Location: approximately 150 nautical miles east-southeast of Pago Pago Harbor, American Samoa