Soft coral and Gorgonids Diversity

Behera, Pralaya Ranjan and Edward, Loveson and Ramkumar, S (2024) Soft coral and Gorgonids Diversity. In: Training Manual on "Know Your Marine Biodiversity and Environment (MarBiE 1)". CMFRI Training Manual Series (42). ICAR- Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi, pp. 34-37.

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Abstract

Coral reefs, which constitutes 0.2% of the ocean's area, are the most productive and diverse ecosystems(Appeltans et al. 2012). Octocorals are one of the most abundant benthic animals in coral reef community.Octocorallia is a subclass within class Anthozoa and phylum Cnidaria. Soft corals, gorgonids, blue corals and sea pens belong to the subclass octocorallia. Globally, Octocorals are found in all marine environmentsfrom intertidal to the deep waters (Perez et al. 2016). In addition to serving as special importance for life-history stages for a wide range of different species, they also serve as microhabitats for marine animals and provide protection from predators. They are extremely significant from an ecological standpoint.Research on octocorals (soft corals and gorgonids) isinadequateas compared to hard corals,in spite of their importance to reef ecology and biodiversity.

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