Laysan Island

Other names: Kauo, Moller Island

Geography: The largest island in the area after Midway's Sand Island, with a large salt lake in the middle.

Distance from Honolulu: 940 miles

Highest point: 40 feet

Type of island: Coral island

Acreage dry land: 1,015

Coral reef within 13.8 miles: 145,334 acres

History: Extensively mined during the late 1800s for guano, the dried bird droppings that made a fine fertilizer. Feather collectors killed birds by the hundreds of thousands during the period. Rabbits released in 1903 ate the island's plants, driving to extinction several species of land birds that relied on them. Rabbits, rats and weeds have been removed.

Biology notes: Home to two endangered native land birds, the Laysan finch and Laysan duck. A lake in the middle of the island is super-salty