First record of two hard coral species (Faviidae and Siderastreidae) from Qeshm Island (Persian Gulf, Iran)

Moradi M, Kamrani E, Shokri MR, Ranjbar MS, Hesni MA (2009) First record of two hard coral species (Faviidae andSiderastreidae) from Qeshm Island (Persian Gulf, Iran). Nusantara Bioscience 2: 34-37. Two species of hard corals includingCyphastrea chalcidicum (Forskal 1775) (Faviidae) and Coscinaraea monile (Forskal 1775) (Siderastreidae) were collected from thesouth of Qeshm Island (Persian Gulf, Iran) in the late of 2008. These species were previously reported from southern Persian Gulf, Gulfof Aden, Southeast Africa and Indo-Pacific. The literature review on the distribution of these two species revealed that these specieswere firstly recorded from the Persian Gulf. These findings further emphasize the high diversity of coral fauna in the Iranian waters ofthe northern Persian Gulf.