Wetlands International Indonesia Programme

Satonda island is a very small circular island of some 2km in diameter with an area of 480 ha. The island is unhabitated. The entire island consists of the top of an emerging volcano, with elevation between 200-350 metres a.s.l. At the midle of the island, a crater lake occur (62 ha), about half of the island surface. The lake is is occupied by a large salt waterin the crater of the old volcano. The island has steep slopes, emerging abruptly from the sea and falling steeply into the lake. They are generally covered with dry monsoon forest, the southern bank of the lake is overgrown with alang-alang. The coastal area of the island is relatively flat, but steep at the north and west parts of the island. Coral reefs occur with patchy distribution, together with some rocky and sandy substrates. The coastal waters is relatively clear, with quite strong water current, particularly at the south of the island (a strait between the island and Sumba island). At the south coast of the island, a 4-7-wide sandy beach streches. Rocky beaches occur at the west coast of the island. The north coast is relatively steep, and the east coast comprises of sandy, rocky beaches. Coral reef occur particularly at the south coastal area. During the PHPA survey (1991), 64 coral species have been recorded. Acroporidae and Favidae dominate the coral species which constitute 19 and 11 species respectively. In addition, 8 species of soft corals have been identified, such as Hetractris crispa, Lemnalia, and Sarcophyton. The protected giant clams were recorded to occur in this site (four species). The survey also recorded 13 reef fish species. It was reported that the sandy beaches at the south of the island was regularly visited by marine turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), however, visitors that come to the island disturb this condition. In terms of bird fauna, at the coastal area of the island, several birds such as Egretta sacra, Halcyon sp, Anhinga melanogaster, and haliastur sp. are often seen. Satonda island has tropical climate, with short rainfall season, between December until March. The average rainfall is 2,079 mm, with average temperature at dry season between 30-32 degree Celcius. Although the island is unhabitated, some visitors usually come to the island (from Labuhan Kananga) to collect fruits, or for recreation. The crater lake at the midle of the island is of scientific importance and has beautiful scenery. The salinity of the lake is relatively high. The occurence of bats (Pteropus vampirus) near the lake is one of interesting part of tourist interest. The 62 ha crater lake has a total depth of 69 m and occupies two nested calderas in the center of Satonda volcano, having diameter of 950 and 400 m respectively. The lake level stands ca.80 cm above the high water mark of the sea off Satonda during the dry season and almost 2 m above sea level during wet season. In spite of its romantic sclusion and tranquility and unspoiled scenery, scientifically, the seawater lake and its species-poor biota represent an ecosystem of global significance, unmatched by any other site currently known worl-wide. Here, microbial bicarbonates similiar to those occurring in the marine fossil record but unknown from the present ocean occur. The most important macroscopic feature of Satonda lake are the microbial reefs. A AWB-PHPA-ZMK team made a survey on microbial reefs, subfossil macrobiota, hydrophysical structure, water chemistry and other geological aspects of the lake in 1993.

Site Location

The site is located at the north of Sumbawa island, near the Mojo island. The closest town is Nangamiro in Sumbawa island (about 5-8km distance). So Pulau Satonda can only be reached by chartered boat from Sumbawa.

Special Memmo

The site is of special values, particularly because of the occurence of a crater lake, and coral reefs around the island.

List of Birds (18 species)

Species	Red Data Book	Cites
Alcedo atthis
Anhinga melanogaster	Lower Risk
Ardea cinerea
Caloenas nicobarica	Lower Risk	App I
Charadrius peronii	Lower Risk
Ciconia episcopus
Egretta sacra
Falco moluccensis		App II
Fregata minor
Halcyon chloris
Haliaeetus leucogaster		App II
Haliastur indus		App II
Himantopus leucocephalus
Megapodius reinwardt
Numenius phaeopus
Pelargopsis capensis
Sterna albifrons
Tringa hypoleucos

List of Mamal (4 species)

Species	Red Data Book	Cites
Cervus timorensis
Macaca fascicularis	Lower Risk	App II
Pteropus vampyrus		App II
Sus scrofa

List of Fish (2 species)

Species	Red Data Book	Cites
Chaetodon bennetti
Heniochus varius

List of Crustaseans (0 species)

List of Mollusk (15 species)

Species	Red Data Book	Cites
Cypraea caputserpentis
Cypraea clandestina
Cypraea erosa
Cypraea punctata
Cypraea tigris
Haliotis sp.
Hippopus hippopus	Lower Risk	App II
Lambis lambis
Lambis truncata
Ovula ovum
Phalium sp.
Tridacna crocea	Insufficiently Know	App II
Tridacna maxima	Lower Risk	App II
Tridacna squamosa	Lower Risk	App II
Valuta sp.

List of Fish (0 species)

List of Reptile (4 species)

Species	Red Data Book	Cites
Crocodylus porosus	Vulnerable	App II
Eretmochelys imbricata	Critically Endengered	App I
Natrix sp.
Varanus sp.

List of Vegetation (0 species)