Located in the Philippines’ Sulu Sea, the Tubbataha Reef became a protected marine park on August 11th, 1988. This 968 km² sanctuary was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in December 1993. In the Sama language, Tubbataha means “a long reef exposed at low tide,” referring to its two large atolls, each featuring a tiny islet at its center.
Philippines Paper
The Philippines are an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands, located at the heart of the Coral Triangle, the region recognized as the global centre of marine biodiversity. Thanks to this unique location, the country is home to one of the richest underwater ecosystems on Earth, with thousands of species of fish, corals, molluscs and crustaceans.
Most of my photographs were taken around Anilao, one of the world’s premier destinations for underwater macro photography, and in the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Anilao is famous for its astonishing diversity of small marine life, including nudibranchs, pygmy seahorses, ghost pipefish, shrimps, cephalopods and countless invertebrates, many measuring only a few millimetres. In contrast, the remote reefs of Tubbataha, in the middle of the Sulu Sea, protect one of the world’s most pristine coral reef ecosystems, where sharks, sea turtles, manta rays and vast schools of tropical fish thrive.
Through these photographs, I invite you to explore the extraordinary underwater world of the Philippines, where every dive reveals another facet of tropical marine biodiversity.