| Tuanake | |
| Map: | French Polynesia |
| Location: | Pacific Ocean |
| Archipelago: | Tuamotus |
| Area Km2: | 26 |
| Area Footnotes: | (lagoon) 6km2 (above water) |
| Length Km: | 9.5 |
| Width Km: | 6.5 |
| Country: | France |
| Country Admin Divisions Title: | Overseas collectivity |
| Country Admin Divisions: | French Polynesia |
| Country Admin Divisions Title 2: | Commune |
| Country Admin Divisions 2: | Makemo |
| Country Admin Divisions Title 1: | Administrative subdivision |
| Country Admin Divisions 1: | Tuamotus |
| Population: | 6[1] |
| Population As Of: | 2017 |
Tuanake or Mata-rua-puna[2] is a small atoll located in the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia. It made up the Raevski Islands subgroup with Tepoto Sud and Hiti. It is administratively attached to the municipality of Makemo.
Tuanake is located 7.51NaN1 west of Hiti, the nearest island, and 545 km east of Tahiti. It is a small semi-circular atoll 9.51NaN1 in length and 6.51NaN1 in maximum width for an emerged area of 6km2. Its 26km2 lagoon is accessible by a very shallow pass located to the south.
Tuanake has long been permanently uninhabited, but the 2017 census counts six inhabitants.[1]
The first recorded European to sight Tuanake was Russian explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen on July 15, 1820, who named it “Raevski Island”.[3] [4] During his expedition, the American navigator Charles Wilkes approached him on December 20, 1840, notified the name of "Tunaki" and named him Reid Island.[3]
In the nineteenth century, Tuanake became a French territory then populated by a few indigenous inhabitants who obey the chief of Katiu just like the Tepoto Sud and Hiti atolls.[5]
Tuanake belongs to the commune of Makemo, which consists of the atolls of Makemo, Haraiki, Marutea Nord, Katiu, Tuanake, Hiti, Tepoto Sud, Raroia, Takume, Taenga and Nihiru. Tuanake Atoll is permanently uninhabited.
Traditional fishing is practiced with the use of two fish parks located on hoas in the south of the atoll.[6] In recent years, Tuanake has been exploited by the inhabitants of Katiu for sea cucumber fishing for export to Asia.[7]
The presence of individuals of the species Acrocephalus atyphus and Gallicolumba erythroptera, an extremely threatened species with only about one hundred individuals recorded in the Pacific, has been reported in Tuanake as well as an endemic population of Tuamotu sandpipers.[8]