The Funafuti Conservation Area is sometimes called the 'Kogatapu Conservation Area' or 'Funafuti Marine Conservation Area'. Six islets (
motu, in the
Tuvaluan language) are included in the Funafuti Conservation Area:
Tepuka Vili Vili, (also called Tepuka Savilivili);
Fualopa;
Fuafatu;
Vasafua;
Fuagea (also called Fuakea) and
Tefala. Vasafua was severely damaged by
Cyclone Pam. The coconut palms were washed away, leaving the islet as a sand bar. The Tuvalu National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan of 2009 describes the marine environment as comprising six major ecosystem types: oceanic, outer reef, lagoonal, back reef, lagoon floor, and patch reefs, plus natural channels between the ocean and lagoon. It says these ecosystems produce sediment that is required for island building and maintenance and support communities of corals, other invertebrates, algae, plankton, fish and marine mammals and reptiles. The terrestrial invertebrates that are found in Tuvalu are land and shore crabs, including
paikea (
Discoplax rotunda),
tupa (
Cardisoma carnifex),
kamakama (
Grapsus albolineatus), a range of hermit crabs,
uga (
Coenobita spp) and the coconut crab,
ū or
uu (
Birgus latro). The islets are also nesting sites for the
green sea turtle (
Chelonia mydas)(
fonu in tuvaluan). The
IUCN Red List identifies only the green turtle as being found in Tuvalu. The green turtle is recognised as critically endangered. The
Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) lists two additional turtle species as being found in Tuvalu:
hawksbill sea turtle (
Eretmochelys Imbricate) and
leatherback sea turtle (
Dermochelys coriacea), with both species being recognised as critically endangered. The marine environment of the Kogatapu includes reef, lagoon, channel and ocean; and are home to many species of fish, corals, algae and invertebrates. A 2007 survey established that fish populations had increased as a result of the Funafuti Conservation Area. Large-sized individual fishes of the highly prized target food species, such as
grouper and
snapper were observed; the presence of so many large fish of desirable target food species indicates that there is very low fishing pressure in the Funafuti Conservation Area, although enforcement by conservation rangers of the no-fishing rules is necessary to preserve the fish stock. Surveys were carried out in May 2010 of the reef habitats of
Nanumea,
Nukulaelae and
Funafuti (including the Funafuti Conservation Area) and a total of 317 fish species were recorded during this
Tuvalu Marine Life study. The surveys identified 66 species that had not previously been recorded in Tuvalu, which brings the total number of identified species to 607. The general Tuvaluan name for an eel is
pusi or
puhi, or in relation to eared eels,
tuna, such as the
black-edged conger eel, (
Conger cinereus). The
Tuvalu Marine Life study also recorded low densities of two species of rays (
fai): (
fai fālua or
fai pulou)
manta ray (
Manta birostris); and (
fai manu)
spotted eagle ray (
Aetobatus narinari), which are both listed on the IUCN Red List of threatened species, as 'near threatened' species. ==Oceanic species==