Angria Bank is a bank, a shallow sunken atoll, 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 island ...

off the west coast of India. 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 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. It has platform type coral reef. The name Angria Bank is derived from the name of one of the most successful Naval Admiral of Maratha Empire, Kanhoji Angre, 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 coral reef. 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 Angria Bank is a bank, a shallow sunken atoll, on the continental shelf off the west coast of India. It is located west of Vijaydurg, Maharashtra. It ...

, a similar submerged feature off the coast of Goa.

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 m ...

eel, a school of schooling bannerfish, and a red knob sea star. Several common dolphins and Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins inhabit the deeper waters of the coast. During the 8-day expedition to Angria Bank that started on the 18th of 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, Maharashtra. In 2008, Maharashtra state Finance Minister Jayant Patil announced a Rs 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