These non-reef building, solitary corals were found in the waters of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
These non-reef building, solitary corals were found in the waters of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Scientists have for the first time recorded four species of azoxanthellate coral from Indian waters. These new corals have been found from the waters of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Azooxanthelate corals are a group of corals that do not contain zooxanthellae and derive nutrition not from the sun but by capturing various forms of plankton. These groups of corals are representatives of the deep sea, with most species reported between 200 m and 1000 m. Their occurrence is also reported from shallow coastal waters.
Meanwhile, zooxanthellate corals are restricted to shallow water.
The details of the new record have been published in Thalass: An International Journal of Marine Science in a paper titled Zoo-geographic range extension of four species of flabellid corals under the genus Truncatophlebellum (Scleractinian: Flabelidae) from Indian waters.
Truncatoflabellum crassum (Milne Edwards and Haim, 1848)
The scientist behind these new records, Tamal Mandal of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), said that all the four groups of corals belong to the same family Flabellidae.
truncatophlebellum crassum (Milne Edwards and Haim, 1848), T. incrustatum (Cairns, 1989), T. aculatum (Milne Edwards and Haim, 1848), and T. Irregular (Semper, 1872) under the family Flabellidae were first found in waters from Japan to the Philippines and Australian, while only T. Krasum Reported within the range of the Indo-West Pacific distribution, including the Gulf of Aden and the Persian Gulf.
Mr Mondal said that azoxanthellate corals are a group of hard corals and the four new records are not only singular but have highly compressed skeletal structure.
“Much of the study of hard corals in India has focused on reef-building corals, while not much is known about non-reef-building corals. These new records increase our knowledge of non-reef-building, solitary corals. are,” he said.
“The Zoological Survey of India has in recent times laid special emphasis on the exploration of India’s coastal and marine biodiversity and has emerged with a number of new discoveries and ecological findings of utmost importance”Dhriti BanerjeeDirector, Zoological Survey of India
ZSI director Dhriti Banerjee said coral reefs are one of the most productive, sustainable and pristine ecosystems of the world’s oceans, especially in shallow coastal waters. “These habitats contribute to many services related to human needs and survival. Hardened corals are a major and intrinsic part of coral reef ecosystems.”
“ZSI has in recent times laid special emphasis on exploring India’s coastal and marine biodiversity and has come up with many new discoveries and ecological findings,” Ms Banerjee said. The Director of ZSI said that the four species of solitary stony corals currently reported add to the national database of biological resources of India and also defines the expansion of the scope of detection of these unexplored and non-reef building corals.
About 570 species of hard corals are found in India and about 90% of them are found in the waters around Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The ancient and oldest ecosystem of corals share less than 1% of the Earth’s surface but they provide a home for about 25% of marine life.
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Four species of Azoxanthellate corals were recorded for the first time from the waters of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
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The scientist behind these new records, Tamal Mandal of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), said that all the four groups of corals belong to the same family Flabellidae.
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ZSI director Dhriti Banerjee said coral reefs are one of the most productive, sustainable and pristine ecosystems of the world’s oceans, especially in shallow coastal waters.