Subtidal surveys along the western Gulf of California coast revealed
the presence of free-living hermatypic corals associated with rhodolith beds, the
first record of this association in the gulf. Five coral species were found, as follows:
Psammocora stellata Verrill, Porites panamensis Verrill, P. sverdrupi Durham, Fungia
curvata Hoeksema, and F. distorta Michelin, with several new distributional
records, Differences in relative abundance of species in our collections from those
in other regions of the Pacific suggest that transport, light, and temperature play
important roles in distribution and development of coral-rhodolith associations in
the gulf
