Turneffe Atoll is one of three atolls of the Belize Barrier Reef, besides Glover's Reef and Lighthouse Reef. It is a chain of small Caribbean cayes southeast from the island of Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye and twenty miles off the coast of Belize City. This is the largest true atoll in Belize and the Mesoamerican Reef System at thirty miles long and ten miles wide. The Turneffe Atoll was declared a national marine reserve on 22 November 2012 by the government of Belize. The atoll is home to many marine species that are threatened and/or commercially important. The land and seascape consists of a network of highly productive flats, creeks, and lagoons dotted by more than a hundred and fifty mangrove islands and higher cayes with savanna and littoral forest.