Annotated checklist for stony corals of American Sāmoa with reference to mesophotic depth records

By

Montgomery, Anthony
Fenner, Douglas
Toonen, Robert J.

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2019

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

849

Pages

1-170

Subjects

Helioporidae , mesophotic coral ecosystems , Milleporidae , new records , Scleractinia , Stylasteridae , World List of Scleractinia , Worms

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.849.34763

 

Abstract

An annotated checklist of the stony corals (Scleractinia, Milleporidae, Stylasteridae, and Helioporidae) of American Sāmoa is presented. A total of 377 valid species has been reported from American Sāmoa with 342 species considered either present (251) or possibly present (91). Of these 342 species, 66 have a recorded geographical range extension and 90 have been reported from mesophotic depths (30–150 m). Additionally, four new species records (AcanthastreasubechinataVeron, 2000,FavitesparaflexuosusVeron, 2000,EchinophylliaechinoporoidesVeron & Pichon, 1980,TurbinariairregularisBernard, 1896) are presented. Coral species of concern include species listed under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of threatened species. Approximately 17.5% of the species present or possibly present are categorized as threatened by IUCN compared to 27% of the species globally. American Sāmoa has seven ESA-listed or ESA candidate species, includingAcroporaglobiceps(Dana, 1846),AcroporajacquelineaeWallace, 1994,Acroporaretusa(Dana, 1846),Acroporaspeciosa(Quelch, 1886),Fimbriaphylliaparadivisa(Veron, 1990),Isoporacrateriformis(Gardiner, 1898), andPocilloporameandrinaDana, 1846. There are two additional species possibly present, i.e.,Pavonadiffluens(Lamarck, 1816) andPoritesnapoporaVeron, 2000.