Maldives wildlife

The Maldives has the largest known population of reef manta rays in the world: more than 6,000 individuals identified by 2024. They follow the plankton, so most sites have a season set by the monsoon. Cleaning stations, where mantas hover while small fish pick them clean, are the surest places to meet them; feeding gatherings depend on tide, current and the moon. Oceanic mantas, the larger species, pass Fuvahmulah mostly in March and April. ^{5, 1, 2, 6}

• Reef manta ray Mobula alfredi Vulnerable

  More than 6,000 identified in the Maldives, about 1,400 of them in Ari and 800 around Malé. A small group of about 85 lives in Addu all year. ^{5, 7, 8, 4}

• Oceanic manta ray Mobula birostris Endangered

  946 individuals recorded from 1996 to 2023, 86% of the sightings off Fuvahmulah. Few are ever seen twice, so most are thought to be passing through. ^{6, 9}

Manta rays: 16 regions. Chart: Dhuveli, from Maldives Land and Survey Authority outlines and © OpenStreetMap contributors.

• Manta rays and all other rays have been protected since June 2014: catching, keeping or trading them is against the law. ²⁴
• Hanifaru Bay is a protected area with its own code: snorkelling only, with a permit and a certified guide, at most 80 snorkellers in the water for 45 minutes at a time, and no scuba, drones or flash. The bay is closed from 6 pm to 6 am. ¹¹

Most whale sharks seen in the Maldives are young males along the outer reef of South Ari Atoll, where they can be met in any month: 399 have been identified there since 2002, nine in ten of them male. They also come into Hanifaru Bay to feed in the southwest monsoon, and large adult females are seen off Fuvahmulah. ^{14, 10, 25}

• Whale shark Rhincodon typus Endangered

  The world's largest fish. The South Ari sharks are mostly juveniles that cruise the shallow reef edge between deep dives, probably to warm up. ¹⁴

Whale sharks: 3 regions. Chart: Dhuveli, from Maldives Land and Survey Authority outlines and © OpenStreetMap contributors.

• Whale sharks are protected, and a national regulation of 2024 sets the rules for watching them. Swimmers keep 3 metres from the body and 4 from the tail, and never touch, block or feed a shark or use flash. Within 250 metres of a shark there may be no more than three boats, under 5 knots, slowing to 2 knots within 50 metres. Drones stay at least 30 metres up. ²⁸
• In the South Ari Marine Park whale shark watching is allowed only from 6 am to 6 pm, and research or filming needs a permit. ²⁹

Spotted eagle rays gather in channels with strong current, often hanging in the upwelling at a channel mouth, and are seen in every month. The best-documented places are the Kuredu channels and Fushifaru in Lhaviyani, and Fushi Kandu in Laamu. The rarer ornate eagle ray turns up around Huravalhi. ^{17, 19, 23}

• Spotted eagle ray Aetobatus ocellatus Endangered

  Groups of up to 50 on a single dive in Lhaviyani. ^{19, 17}

• Ornate eagle ray Aetomylaeus vespertilio

  A rare, patterned ray: at least six individuals photo-identified around Kuredu and Huravalhi from 2015 to 2023, in every month of the year. ¹⁷

Eagle rays: 3 regions. Chart: Dhuveli, from Maldives Land and Survey Authority outlines and © OpenStreetMap contributors.

• Eagle rays are protected with all other rays, since June 2014. ²⁴

Shark fishing has been banned in Maldivian waters since 2010, and reef sharks are part of most dives. Two places stand out: Fuvahmulah, a lone island in the south where tiger sharks gather all year alongside threshers and hammerheads, and the channels of Rasdhoo, where reef sharks school on the incoming current. Sightings depend on current and tide as much as on the month. ^{30, 9, 31}

• Tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier Near threatened

  Fuvahmulah holds the only known tiger shark aggregation in the country: more than 230 animals identified, most of them female. ^{32, 9}

• Scalloped hammerhead Sphyrna lewini Critically endangered

  Schools are seen off Fuvahmulah in season; the dawn school Rasdhoo was known for is now rare. ^{9, 31}

• Pelagic thresher shark Alopias pelagicus Endangered

  Visits deep cleaning stations off Fuvahmulah, the only known thresher cleaning station in the western Indian Ocean. ⁹

• Grey reef shark Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos Endangered

  Groups of fifteen or more hold station in the channels when the current runs in. ^{31, 9}

• Silvertip, whitetip and blacktip reef sharks Carcharhinus albimarginatus, Triaenodon obesus, C. melanopterus Vulnerable

  Whitetips rest on the sand in channels; young blacktips hunt in knee-deep water off the beaches. ³¹

Sharks: 4 regions. Chart: Dhuveli, from Maldives Land and Survey Authority outlines and © OpenStreetMap contributors.

• All shark fishing in Maldivian waters has been banned since 1 March 2010, and sharks caught in other fisheries may not be kept. A licensed fishery for deep-water gulper sharks opened on 1 November 2025 as the one exception; taking any other shark is still prohibited. ^{30, 34, 35}

Five sea turtle species are recorded in the Maldives, and two of them live here. Hawksbills are the turtle divers and snorkellers meet on reefs everywhere; green turtles graze the seagrass lagoons, above all in Laamu and Lhaviyani. Both keep to the same reef for years, so they can be seen in any month; the higher sighting counts from November to April owe as much to calm, clear water and busier boats as to the turtles. Almost all nesting is by green turtles, on beaches in at least sixteen atolls, in every month with a peak around June to September. ^{36, 37, 38}

• Green turtle Chelonia mydas Least concern

  The turtle that nests here: 1,086 of the 1,212 nests recorded from 2018 to 2024. Moved to least concern worldwide in 2025, but still endangered on the Maldives' own red list. ^{36, 39, 40}

• Hawksbill turtle Eretmochelys imbricata Critically endangered

  The one most often seen in the water, mostly young turtles that stay on one reef for years, which makes the Maldives an important feeding ground. Only 47 hawksbill nests were confirmed from 2018 to 2024. ^{38, 37, 36}

• Olive ridley turtle Lepidochelys olivacea Vulnerable

  Not resident. Three in four turtles brought to rescue centres from 2010 to 2022 were olive ridleys, most of them tangled in drifting ghost nets, chiefly from January to March. ⁴¹

• Loggerhead and leatherback turtles Caretta caretta, Dermochelys coriacea Vulnerable

  Rare visitors, neither ever confirmed nesting here. ⁴²

Sea turtles: 11 regions. Chart: Dhuveli, from Maldives Land and Survey Authority outlines and © OpenStreetMap contributors.

• Since April 2016 every marine turtle species has been fully protected under the Environment Protection and Preservation Act: catching, keeping or trading turtles, taking eggs, disturbing nests and damaging their habitat are all against the law. ^{38, 36}
• Gaadhoo, with its beach, reef, lagoon, mangroves and seagrass, was declared protected in December 2021, one of six protected areas in Laamu decided that month. ^{48, 49}
• Moving a turtle nest needs a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency. ⁴⁶

At least twenty-three kinds of whale and dolphin have been recorded in Maldivian waters. Whales are met by chance out in the open sea, mostly in calm weather, and none can be promised; blue whales pass only between November and April. Sperm whales are found offshore and humpbacks are reported occasionally between June and October. ^{50, 51, 52}

• Blue whale Balaenoptera musculus Endangered

  Pygmy blue whales, travelling between Sri Lanka and the Arabian Sea; every Maldivian record falls between November and April. ^{51, 52}

• Bryde's whale Balaenoptera edeni Least concern

  The baleen whale seen most often, sometimes feeding alongside tuna. ⁵¹

• Short-finned pilot whale Globicephala macrorhynchus Least concern

  In groups over the outer reef slopes. ⁵¹

• Sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus Vulnerable

  Rarely seen from the islands, but common offshore in the south in surveys from January to March. ⁵¹

Whales: 3 regions. Chart: Dhuveli, from Maldives Land and Survey Authority outlines and © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Spinner dolphins are the most common cetacean in the Maldives and live in every atoll. Schools rest inside the atolls by day, coming in through the reef channels at dawn and leaving in the late afternoon, which is when resort dolphin trips go out. Spotted, Risso's and Fraser's dolphins keep mostly to the outer slopes and open sea. ^{51, 50}

• Spinner dolphin Stenella longirostris Least concern

  More than a third of all whale and dolphin sightings, in schools averaging around sixty. ⁵¹

• Bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus Least concern

  Small groups inside the atolls, larger ones outside. ⁵¹

• Risso's and pantropical spotted dolphins Grampus griseus, Stenella attenuata Least concern

  Risso's over the outer slopes; spotted dolphins often with tuna and seabirds, north and south. ⁵¹

Dolphins: 3 regions. Chart: Dhuveli, from Maldives Land and Survey Authority outlines and © OpenStreetMap contributors.

More than two hundred bird species have been recorded in the Maldives, but only about sixteen breed here: mostly seabirds nesting on empty sandbanks, rocky islets and big trees, and herons and rails in the mangroves and freshwater marshes (kilhi). About half of all species are winter visitors from the north, arriving with the northeast monsoon from around November and gone by April. The one Important Bird Area is Haa Alifu Atoll, for its wintering lesser noddies. Breeding seabirds have fallen steeply, through egg poaching, building and people landing on nesting sandbanks. ^{53, 54, 55}

• White-tailed tropicbird Phaethon lepturus Least concern

  Nests in big old trees. The largest known colony, about 800 birds, is on Kuredu in Lhaviyani; it has gone from the central atolls. ⁵⁴

• Lesser noddy Anous tenuirostris Least concern

  Thousands winter in the far north from December to March, and they are why Haa Alifu is an Important Bird Area. ^{55, 54}

• Lesser and great frigatebirds Fregata ariel, F. minor Least concern

  Visitors in the northeast monsoon that roost in hundreds on a few islands; they do not breed here. ^{53, 54}

• Black-naped tern Sterna sumatrana Least concern

  The most widespread breeding seabird, nesting on bare sandbanks, and one that abandons its nest after very little disturbance. ⁵⁴

• White tern Gygis candida Least concern

  Breeds only in the far south, in Addu and Huvadhoo, all year round in mango and breadfruit trees. Protected since 1996. ^{54, 56}

• Grey heron Ardea cinerea Least concern

  A widespread resident nesting in mangroves and trees; the largest colony, over a hundred birds, is at Eedhigali Kilhi in Addu. ^{54, 53}

• Grey plover and curlew sandpiper Pluvialis squatarola, Calidris ferruginea Vulnerable

  Winter visitors to beaches and sandbanks, with whimbrels, turnstones and sand plovers; two of the three globally threatened birds on the Maldives list. ^{57, 53}

Birds: 12 regions. Chart: Dhuveli, from Maldives Land and Survey Authority outlines and © OpenStreetMap contributors.

• Every native and migratory bird except the house crow is protected: catching, keeping, caging or trading birds, and taking their eggs, is against the law. The protected list has 207 species. ^{53, 54, 62}
• Eleven northern sites, among them Gallandhoo, Innafushi, Naalaa Huraa and Kendhikulhudhoo, have been protected since 2019: visits need permission, and anchoring, fires, taking sand and harming birds, eggs or nests are banned. ⁵⁸