A large aggregation of self-fragmenting mushroom corals in the Arabian/Persian Gulf
Author | Hoeksema B.W. |
Author | Bouwmeester J. |
Author | Range P. |
Author | Ben-Hamadou R. |
Available date | 2019-10-17T07:44:36Z |
Publication Date | 2018 |
Publication Name | Ecology |
Resource | Scopus |
ISSN | 129658 |
Abstract | [No abstract available] |
Abstract | The Arabian/Persian Gulf is a relatively shallow, semi‐enclosed sea at high tropical latitudes, surrounded by desert land with limited water exchange, high salinities, and extreme annual fluctuations of surface temperatures (Sheppard et al. 1992). These conditions restrict the Gulf's marine biodiversity, as demonstrated by the mushroom coral family Fungiidae (Scleractinia). In the Gulf, this family has only been known to be represented by the free‐living (unattached) species, Cycloseris curvata (Hoeksema, 1989), which is considered uncommon (Riegl et al. 2012), whereas this coral family consists of 52 described species in the entire tropical Indo‐Pacific, 40 of which are unattached (Benzoni et al. 2012). |
Sponsor | This publication was made possible by NPRP awards [NPRP 7-1129-1-201 and NPRP 8-952-1-186] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of the Qatar Foundation) and by the Qatar Museums Authority through the project �Research on Qatar�s geological history and present-day biodiversity� granted to Naturalis Biodiversity Center. The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors. The whip coral species (Fig. 1) was identified by L. P. van Ofwegen. We thank the reviewer and editor for their constructive comments. |
Language | en |
Publisher | Ecological Society of America |
Type | Article |
Pagination | 1236-1238 |
Issue Number | 5 |
Volume Number | 99 |
Files in this item
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
-
Biological & Environmental Sciences [881 items ]