CHAPTER IV 
THE FAUNA OF MAKULUVA REEFS 
Having previously worked mainly in the tropical Atlantic it 
is but natural for us to make certain general comparisons between 
the reef fauna of the West Indies and that of the western South 
Pacifie as represented by the reefs of Fiji. 
One of the first things that surprised us was the generic iden- 
tity of many typical forms in the regions compared. Most of the 
corals were of genera already familiar to us such as Porites, 
Acropora, Orbicella, Agaricea, Siderastraea, ete., all found abun- 
dantly in the West Indies, although the species seemed different, 
as would be expected. Among the echinoderms were a handsome 
blue Linckia, the commonest starfish on the flats, the familiar 
genera Ophiocoma and Ophiothriz, the widely distributed sea 
urchin Echinometra lucunter and a Diadema or a similar form. 
The mollusks were mainly of familiar West Indian genera such as 
Cerithium, Turbo, Cyprea, Natica, Conus, Murex and Triton. 
The ecrustacea, too, were chiefly of familiar genera. Taking it all 
in all there was much less difference between the fauna of the two 
areas than one would suppose, although Agassiz has called atten- 
tion to the same fact in his book on the coral reefs of Fiji, and 
elsewhere. 
Of course, we found many genera in all groups that are absent 
or rare in the West Indies, such as Pocillopora, Fovites, Leptorva 
and others among the corals, while the aleyonaria were represented 
by the organ pipe coral, a tabulate form, and a number of other 
genera that have not yet been worked over but which are quite 
distinct from the familiar forms of the Atlantic. Among the mol- 
lusks were such forms as Z7'ridacna, Pteroceros and Haliotts, all of 
which are rare or wanting in the Atlantic. These are, of course, 
but a few of the characteristic genera but enough to indicate the 
fact that along with a great generic identity of forms there are a 
good many types in the South Pacific that seem to be lacking in 
the tropical Atlantic. 
Another thing that strikes the collector is the almost entire ab- 
sence of whole groups of marine forms that are particularly abun- 
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