Angria Bank is a

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

, a shallow sunken

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most ...

, on the

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an islan ...

off the west coast of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is located west of

Vijaydurg Vijaydurg (sometimes written as Viziadurg), the oldest fort on the Sindhudurg coast, was constructed during the regime of Raja Bhoja II of the Shilahar dynasty (construction period 1193-1205) and restructured by Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj. ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. It has

platform Platform may refer to: Arts * Platform, an arts centre at The Bridge, Easterhouse, Glasgow * ''Platform'' (1993 film), a 1993 Bollywood action film * ''Platform'' (2000 film), a 2000 film by Jia Zhangke * '' The Platform'' (2019 film) * Pla ...

type

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...

. The name Angria Bank is derived from the name of one of the most successful Naval Admiral of

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

Kanhoji Angre Kanhoji Angre (Help:IPA/Marathi, anʱod͡ʒiː aːŋɡɾe, also known as Conajee Angria or Sarkhel Angré (August 1669 – 4 July 1729) was a Maratha Navy admiral. Kanhoji became known for attacking and capturing European Union, European Ea ...

, whose name was spelled ''Conajee Angria'' by the british.

Geography

The bank is at an average depth of approximately , and its dimensions are from north to south and from east to west. It is a

. The depth may vary; at some points, the water is deep, and at other points, the seafloor can be below sea level. The bottom is composed of sand, shells, and coral. The bank is steep-to on all sides, with great depths surrounding it.Sailing Directions: West Coast of India, Sector 2: Diu Head to Cape Rama, page 40
/ref> Angria Bank is north of

Adas Bank Adas Bank is a submerged bank located off the west coast of India, between Angria Bank (200 km to the north) and Cora Divh bank of the Laccadive Islands (90 km to the south). Geography The nearest coast is the Indian mainland close t ...

, a similar submerged feature off the coast of

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

Marine life

In late December 2019, the Wildlife Conservation Society of India launched an expedition to Angria Bank, discovering a coral reef that hadn't bleached yet. The government of India plans to designate Angria Bank as a marine protected reserve. Angria Bank is known to have at least one

laced moray The laced moray (''Gymnothorax favagineus''), also known as the leopard moray, leopard moray eel, tessellate moray or honeycomb moray, is a species of marine fish in the family Muraenidae. Description ''Gymnothorax favagineus'' is a large moray ...

eel, a school of

schooling bannerfish The schooling bannerfish (''Heniochus diphreutes''), also known as the false moorish idol, is a marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish from the family Chaetodontidae. It is native to the Indo-Pacific area. Description The schooling bannerfish ...

, and a red knob sea star. Several

common dolphins The common dolphin (''Delphinus delphis'') is the most abundant cetacean in the world, with a global population of about six million. Despite this fact and its vernacular name, the common dolphin is not thought of as the archetypal dolphin, with ...

and Indo-Pacific

bottlenose dolphins The bottlenose dolphin is a toothed whale in the genus ''Tursiops''. They are common, cosmopolitan members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Molecular studies show the genus contains three species: the common bot ...

inhabit the deeper waters of the coast. During the 8-day expedition to Angria Bank that started on 18 December, over 150 species of corals and algae were documented with no visible signs of bleaching."Expedition to Angria Bank"
12 March 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2020.

Tourism

Angria Bank is accessible by a two-hour boat ride from

Malvan Malvan (also written as Malwan) is a town and ''taluka'' in Sindhudurg District, the southernmost district of Maharashtra State, India, well known for the historically important Sindhudurg Fort. Malvan ''taluka'' consists of villages such as ...

, Maharashtra. In 2008, Maharashtra state Finance Minister

Jayant Patil Jayant Rajaram Patil (born 16 February 1962) is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He has been representing Islampur (Vidhan Sabha constituency) in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for more than three decades. He was the ...

announced a

₹ The Indian rupee sign ⟨₹⟩ is the currency symbol for the Indian rupee (ISO 4217: INR), the official currency of India. Designed by D. Udaya Kumar, it was presented to the public by the Government of India on 15 July 2010, following its ...

50 million initiative to explore Angria Bank to determine the feasibility of further marine tourism in the area."Mah govt plans to explore tourism potential of 'Angria Bank'."
WebIndia123.com 19 March 2008. Retrieved 20 June 2008. The first ever underwater scientific expedition was carried out by the National Institute of Oceanography in 1985 . It revealed significant biodiversity though the results are yet to be published.

Geography

Marine life

Tourism

See also

References

Further reading