An Analysis of the Pattern of Dispersion of the Hermatypic Coral Pocillopora Meandrina Var. Nobilis Verril

Spatial distribution of the hermatypic coral Pocillopora meandrina is analysed by quadrat—count and nearest neighbor techniques; the nearest technique consistently indicates uniform dispersion of the coral heads. The significant correlation between the sum of the diameters of each pair of nearest neighbors and the distance between the centers of those nearest neighbors suggests that the uniform dispersion is the product of competition between colonies and settling larvae. Several mechanisms are proposed to account for the uniform dispersion.