New Records of Five Species of Scleractinian Corals to Indian Waters from Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Oligotropic waters of Andaman and Nicobar archipelago harbor a rich diversity of faunal communities.Scleractinian corals are recorded from this group of islands are highly diverse in comparison with the other reef areas of India. Five species of hermatypic corals viz. Acroporalovelli Veron and Wallace, 1984 and Acropora willisae Veron and Wallace, 1984 belonging to Acroporidae family, Myceto- phyllia lamarckiana Milne Edwards and Haime, 1848 and Isophylliasinuosa (Ellis and Solander, 1786)under Mussidae family and Porites cumulates Nemenzo, 1955 of Poritidae family are recorded for the first time in Indian waters from Andaman group of islands. The range distribution of this five species increases the Indian scleractinian database upto 611 species,of which 579 species from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The present paper dealt with the morphological characteristics of these four newly recorded species of scleractinians with their distribution and conservational status.
