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20 million years ago, geologic forces raised the tip of a
huge coral bank above sea level. Today, Lisianski Island is
1.5 square kilometers (381 acres), about the size of Honolulu.
Its highest point is a sand dune about 40 feet above sea level.
Though the island is small, the reef area to the southeast,
called Neva Shoals, is huge, covering 979 square kilometers(241,916
acres), an area nearly the size of O`ahu.
Hawaiian gourd calabash was spotted on the beach of Lisianski
in 1805, when the ship Neva ran aground there. Captain Iurii
Lisianskii (aka Urey Lisiansky) jettisoned some of the ship's
cargo to free themselves from the shallow
ship picking up survivors of a shipwreck introduced mice to
the island in 1844. Rabbits were introduced later, and along
with mice, they devastated the island's ecology and are believed
to have caused the demise of the Laysan
rail. Feather collecting
began on Lisianski about 1904. In response to public outcry
about the feather trade, Theodore Roosevelt established the
Hawaiian Island Bird Reservation, which included Lisianski,
in 1909. An armed party landed on the island in 1910. They
arrested feather poachers and confiscated and destroyed about
1.4 tons of feathers, representing 140,400 birds.
Today, Hawaiian monk seals and green sea turtles are common
visitors to Lisianski's sandy white beaches. Migratory shorebirds
seen on the island include the kolea (golden plover), ulili
(wandering tattler), and kioea (bristle-thighed curlew). Nearly
three-fourths of the Bonin petrels nesting in Hawai`i make
this island their home. In some years, more than a million
sooty terns visit Lisianski.
fishes of the nearshore waters are abundant and diverse.
Researchers have found predators near Lisianski's reefs such
as sharks to be very aggressive. Even ulua (Trevally jacks)
will harass divers and small boats. The reefs of Lisianski
and surrounding Neva Shoals are called "coral gardens" by
some scientists because of their abundance of coral and the
variety of growth forms assumed by their colonies, including
structures resembling spires, castles, and a variety of other
shapes. Twenty-four different species of coral were found
in one major survey at Lisianski.
wide variety of algae are commonly found close to the island,
and some researchers think that this results from guano (bird
droppings) washing into the ocean and providing nutrients
for the algae.