Abstract

Vietnamese Reef-Building Corals and Reefs in the Open Part of the South China Sea

Author(s): Yu Ya Latypov

The work analyzes and discusses survey results for Vietnamese reefs in the open part of the South China Sea. It shows the degree of exploration and species composition of reef-building scleractinian of this region. It has been determined that reefs and coral fauna residing on them have similar characteristics and high species similarity by the coral composition with other regions of Vietnam, and constitute a uniform complex of species in the equatorial zone of the Indo-Pacific region. Six species of scleractinian that have not been previously noticed at the reefs of Vietnam were found – Acropora abrolhosensis, A. insignis, A. parilis, Stylophora subseriata, Merulina scabricula, Pachyseris gemmae.