Tromelin Island (; , ) is a low, flat island in the Indian Ocean about north of Réunion and about east of Madagascar. Tromelin is administered as part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, a French Overseas Territory, but Mauritius claims sovereignty over the island. Tromelin has facilities for scientific expeditions and a weather station. It is a nesting site for birds and green sea turtles. Etymology The island is named in honour of Jacques Marie Boudin de Tromelin de La Nuguy, captain of the French corvette Dauphine. He arrived at the island on 29 November 1776, and rescued eight stranded enslaved Malagasy people who had been on the island for 15 years. Description Tromelin is situated in the Mascarene Basin and is part of the Îles Éparses. It is currently only high. It formed as a volcano, now eroded, and developed an atoll ring of coral. Tromelin is about long and wide, with an area of 80 ha (200 acres), covered in scrub dominated by octopus bush and surrounded by coral reefs. Access by sea is quite difficult as there are no harbours and the only anchorage, to the northwest of the island, is poorly situated. The best, but by no means ideal, landing area is on the east side of the northern peninsula. A airstrip provides a link with the outside world. Fauna and flora Flora is poorly developed due to weather conditions and lack of fresh water. With the exception of two or three months in summer, this flat island is swept day and night by heavy winds that are sustained in winter. In summer, it can suffer the onslaught of cyclones and tropical storms. There is only grass and brush (low shrubs) present on the island. Veloutaries (Heliotropium foertherianum) and purslane (Portulaca oleracea), with growth shaped by a dominant east winds are present everywhere on the island. The fauna consists mainly of hermit crabs (Paguroidea), seabirds, and sea turtles for which the island is an important nesting place. The green turtle (Chelonia mydas) is mainly encountered and, to a lesser extent, the hawksbill sea turtle. The waters are rich with fish. The French Coral Reef Initiative (IFRECOR) has identified 26 species of corals. Allochthonous species were introduced on the island during the various shipwrecks: rats, mice and rabbits. The latter were decimated in 1986 by cyclone Erinesta. Important bird area The island has been identified