Kingman Reef, an unincorporated territory of the United States, is a part of the Northern Line Islands, which are located in the northern region of the South Pacific Ocean. The reef is 920 miles southwest of Honolulu. It is a barren atoll reef and while its total area  measures 29 square miles, the dry land area of Kingman Reef is a mere .01 square miles.

In 1934 Kingman Reef was used by the US Navy as a reservation. From 1937 to 1938 the lagoon was utilized as a station for commercial planes flying between Hawaii and Samoa. The U.S. Navy administered the reef until 2000 at which point it was turned over to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services; the following year the reef was declared a U.S. National Wildlife Refuge, and in 2009 it was designated a part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.

Kingman Reef is uninhabited by humans. One unique quality of the reef’s ecosystem and food chain is that it’s primarily predator-based and is home to a large population of sharks, jacks and other carnivores. Giant clams and green sea turtles are also very common on Kingman Reef, and the reef provides nesting-ground habitats…