Scleractinian Corals of Kuwait

Abstract

A survey was made of the coral reefs of Kuwait to compile a species list of scleractinian corals. Twenty-eight hermatypic and six ahermatypic coral species are listed in systematic order, and a brief description is provided for each. A new species of Acropora is described. The Kuwait fauna is a small subset of the over 500 Indo-Pacific species. Several species show a higher degree of intraspecific variation than they exhibit in other locations. A range extension is reported for Acanthastrea maxima Sheppard & Salm, previously recorded from Oman (north and south coasts). A common species in the Arabian Gulf, Porites compressa Dana, has a disjunct distribution; it has not been found in the western Pacific, but occurs in the Red Sea, northern Indian Ocean, and Hawai'i. It is possible that the Gulf is one of the few places where Siderastrea and Pseudosiderastrea co-occur.