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Tuanake

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Tuanake, also known as Mata-rua-puna, is a small atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia. It belongs to the Raevski Islands subgroup with Tepoto Sud and Hiti and is administered as part of the Makemo commune. The atoll lies about 7.5 km west of Hiti and 545 km east of Tahiti.

The atoll is crescent-shaped, about 9.5 km long and 6.5 km wide. It has a land area of around 6 km2 and a lagoon of roughly 26 km2, with a very shallow pass at the southern side.

Tuanake has long been uninhabited, but the 2017 census recorded 6 residents. The first European sighting was by Russian explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen on July 15, 1820, who named it Raevski Island. American explorer Charles Wilkes visited in 1840 and referred to it as Tunaki or Reid Island.

Traditionally, fishing is done by nearby communities, and there are two fish parks on hoas in the south. In recent years, Katiu islanders have fished sea cucumbers for export. The atoll hosts rare wildlife, including Acrocephalus atyphus (a highly threatened bird) and Gallicolumba erythroptera (a very endangered pigeon), along with an endemic population of Tuamotu sandpipers. Tuanake remains permanently uninhabited.


This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 13:57 (CET).