Records of the Western Australian Museum 18: 361^117 (1998). 
Azooxanthellate Scleractinia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) of Western Australia 
Stephen D. Cairns 
Department of Invertebrate Zoology, MRC-163, W-329, 
National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 
Washington, D. C. 20560, USA 
Abstract - One hundred five species of azooxanthellate Scleractinia are 
known from Western Australia. Seventy of these species are reported herein 
as new records for Western Australia, 57 of which are also new to Australia. 
Eleven new species are described. The study was based on an examination 
of approximately 1725 specimens from 333 stations, which resulted in 
additional records of 98 of the 105 known species. New material was 
examined from six museums, as well as the historical material of Folkeson 
(1919) deposited at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. 
A majority (69/105 species) of the azooxanthellate species known from 
Western Australia occur in the tropical region of the Northern Australian 
Tropical Province (bordered to the south by the Houtman Abrolhos Islands 
and Port Gregory), which can be considered as a southern extension of the 
larger lndo-West Pacific tropical realm. Nine species are endemic to this 
region, and the highest latitudinal attrition of species occurs between Cape 
Jaubert and the Dampier Archipelago. Another 20 species, also known from 
tropical regions, extend to varying degrees into the Southern Australian 
Warm Temperate Province. Twelve species are restricted to warm temperate 
waters of the Southern Australian Warm Temperate Region, most of these 
species being relatively shallow in depth distribution. A majority of species 
(53) occur at depths shallower than 200 m, 46 occur exclusively deeper than 
200 m (to 1011 m), and 6 species cross the 200 m isobath. 
Commensal relationships (galls) with ascothoracidan crustaceans were 
found with two corals hosts (Madrepora oculata and Dellocyathus magnificus), 
and with acrothoracican cirripedes (thecal borings) with six coral hosts: 
Flabellum politum, Truncatoflabcllum folkesoni, T. formosum, T. australiensis, 
Javania lamprotichum, and Dendrophyllia alcocki. 
INTRODUCTION 
Veron and Marsh (1988) listed 318 species of 
"hermatypic" (or zooxanthellate) Scleractinia from 
Western Australia. The term zooxanthellate simply 
means that the coral lives in symbiosis with 
dinoflagellate algae and thus must occur within the 
euphotic zone and in tropical to subtropical 
temperatures, and usually implies that the coral 
contributes to reef structure, although not necessarily 
(Schuhmacher and Zibrowius 1985). There is, 
however, a second ecological class of Scleractinia 
known as azooxanthellate corals, literally those 
species that do not live symbiotically with 
dinoflagellate algae. These species are not limited to 
the euphotic zone or by warm temperatures and are 
ubiquitous, known from the Norwegian Sea to 
Antarctica from the intertidal to 6328 m (Cairns and 
Stanley 1982). Coralla of azooxanthellate species are 
usually small, solitary, and do not contribute to reef 
structure, but exceptions to all these conditions occur. 
Approximately equal numbers of both types of coral 
species occur in the world oceans. 105 species of 
azooxanthellate corals occur off the entire coast of 
Western Australia, ranging from the intertidal to 1011 
m. These, combined with the known zooxanthellate 
coral fauna, result in a total of 422 scleractinian 
species from Western Australia, one species, 
Heleropsammia cochlea, occurring in both forms. 
The history of the azooxanthellate coral fauna of 
Western Australia is not lengthy. Only 13 
publications report 35 azooxanthellate species from 
this region, the first (Rehberg, 1892) being 
Heterocyathus pulchellus from the "Westkuste 
Australiens", a species later synonymized with H. 
sulcatus (Verrill, 1866) by Hoeksema and Best (1991). 
Ten new records were added by Folkeson (1919), 
resulting from collections made by E. Mjoberg's 
Swedish Scientific Expeditions to Australia (1910- 
1913). These records, which include three new 
species and one new genus, were from WSW of 
Cape Jaubert and off Broome at depths of 11-42 m, 
and include: Tntncatoflabellum spheniscus (originally 
reported as Flabellum rubrum, in part); T. aculeatum 
(reported as F. rubrum, in part); T. angiostomum-, 
Placotrochus laevis; Heterocyathus aecpiicostatus ; H. 
alternatus; H. hemisphericus (reported as 
