Stony corals of the seas around India

Abstract

Three hundred and fortytwo species of scleractinian corals of seventy six genera have been hitherto recorded from the seas around India, including the Maldives, the Laccadives, Ceylon, Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar along the Indian coast, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Merergui Archipelago. Out of these, 253 species divided among 49 genera are hermatypic and the rest ahermatypic. The Maldivian coral fauna, as it is known, includes 166 species of 66 genera and that of the Laccadives, 73 species divided among 29 genera