DIVERSITY OF STONY CORALS IN BANGGAI WATER

Abstract

Banggai waters, located in Central Sulawesi Province, is part of the world’s coral triangle area which is well–known to have the highest diversity on stony corals (Scleractinia). A research on stony corals has been carried out at 9 study sites between June–July 2011, practicing line transect methods and free collection in order to determine the recent condition and diversity of the given coral group. The average of live corals coverage was recorded at 46%
(ranging between 24–77%), and categorized as fair condition. The number of coral species found was 194, distributed in 54 genera. The Banggai waters condition was considered good and potential to sustain the corals’growth. Even though so, in several particular areas, there were still threats on coral reefs.