INVENTORY AND DISTRIBUTION OF MOLLUSC IN CORAL REEF OF BACAN ISLAND WATERS, NORTH MALUKU PROVINCE

Bacan Island waters of North Maluku Province consist ed of three main tropical ecosystem s, namely mangrove, seagrass, and coral reef with the highest marine biodiversity. Mollusc is a group of marine fauna that most of them associate dwith coral reef .  However, little is known about their information in the Bacan Island due to lack of study conducted there. The purpose of this study is to observe the diversity and distribution of mollusc fauna in the coral reef flat of Bacan Island. M ollusc i nventory was done using Rapid Reef Resource Assessment (RRA) method by snorkling in the reefs of east coast (25 sites) and west coast (10 sites) of Bacan Island. The mollus cs found were directly identified into species level and recorded.  Results of inventory show that there are 47 species belong to 19 famil ies with the family of Muricidae is the highest diversity ( 6 species ), while the lowest are Buccinidae, Bursidae, Haliotidae, Olividae, Cardiidae, Isognomonidae and Spondylidae , respectively with only 1 species in each of those families. T he highest species number of mollusc was distributed along the east coast of the island ( 40 species) , and thelowest one was i n the west coast ( 37 species ) . Some species such as Tridacna spp., Pinctada margaritifera and Pteria pengui n are important species, because they have economical values.  Keywords : biodiversity, molluscs, coral reef, Bacan Island, North Maluku