Stony Corals

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I have seen it stated in a number of different guides that there are only 52 species of stony corals in Hawaii.  However, a quick trawl through J.E.N. Veron's Corals of the World soon turned up over 70 - which I have listed out below.  And Hawaii's Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy (HCWCS) has produced its own even longer list, which I have detailed below alongside my extract from Veron which would not claim to be comprehensive.  However, it seems that any two lists of Hawaiian corals will differ both in number and type of species recorded, and will also diverge on other key details - such as whether the species are endemic to Hawaii or not.  There are a number of species described as endemic by HCWCS, Hoover, etc that in fact appear to merely be indigenous.  Accepted examples of this are Acropora cytherea (known to be widely distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific), and Montipora capitata (which whilst common in Hawaii is found elsewhere, though admitted rarely).  The points to remember in all this is that the identification and taxonomy of corals is constantly evolving and changing.  For example, Douglas Fenner in his book Corals of Hawaii, has further questioned a number of these coral attributions (though I believe Fenner's work has yet to be peer reviewed).

Where available, I have provided hyperlinks to the Australian Institute of Marine Science's (AIMS) CoralSearch database entries for each coral.  Where either Veron or Hawaii's Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy indicate that a species is endemic to Hawaii, this is is highlighted with this icon - sometimes they actually agree!

  Veron HCWCS Comments
Acropora cerealis    
cytherea cytherea   found only in the North-Western Hawaiian Islands
    echinata  
elseyi    
    gemmifera found only in the North-Western Hawaiian Islands
humilis humilis found only in the North-Western Hawaiian Islands
hyacinthus    
    nasuta  
paniculata paniculata found only in the North-Western Hawaiian Islands
selago    
valida valida found only in the North-Western Hawaiian Islands
Anisopsammia   ampheiliodes deep water coral - over 90m / 300ft
Anthemiphyllia   dentata  
    pacifica deep water coral - over 90m / 300ft
Alveopora verrilliana verrilliana  
Balanophyllia   cornu  
    cf affinis  
    desmophylloides deep water coral - over 90m / 300ft
    diomedeae   deep water coral - over 90m / 300ft
    gigas  
  hawaiiensis     hawaiiensis deep water coral - over 90m / 300ft
    laysanensis   deep water coral - over 90m / 300ft
Bathyactis   hawaiiensis deep water coral - over 90m / 300ft
Caryophyllia   alcocki deep water coral - over 90m / 300ft
    atlantica  
    cf ambrosia  
    hawaiiensis  
    marmorea  
    octopali   deep water coral - over 90m / 300ft
    rugosa  
Ceratotrochus   laxus   deep water coral - over 90m / 300ft
Cladopsammia   echinata  
Coenosmilia   inordinata    
Conotrochus   funicolumna  
Coscinaraea wellsi wellsi  
Culicia   cf tenella  
Cyathoceras   diomedeae deep water coral - over 90m / 300ft
    rubescens  
Cycloseris   fragilis  
  sinensis    
  tenuis tenuis  
  vaughani vaughani  
Cyphastrea agassizi    
  ocellina ocellina  
Deltocyathus   andamanicus deep water coral - over 90m / 300ft
    stellulatus  
Dendrophyllia   gaditana  
    oahuensis deep water coral - over 90m / 300ft
    serpentina   also known as Eguchipsammia sepentina
Desmophyllum   cristagalli deep water coral - over 90m / 300ft
Diaseris distorta distorta  
    fragilis  
Ehallopsammia   amphelioides  
    rostrata  
Endopachys   grayi  
    oahuense deep water coral - over 90m / 300ft
Favia   hawaiiensis  
    hombroni  
    rudis  
Flabellum   deludens deep water coral - over 90m / 300ft
    marcus  
    pavoninum deep water coral - over 90m / 300ft
    vaughani    
Fungia concinna    
    echinata  
   </