Vol. 50 No. 3, 2011

Coral Reefs and Communities of Qeshm Island, the Persian Gulf

Javid Kavousi¹, Jafar Seyfabadi^1,*, Hamid Rezai², and Douglas Fenner³

¹Tarbiat Modares Univ., PO Box 64412-256, Tehran, Iran
²Iranian National Center for Oceanography, PO Box 14155-4181, Tehran, Iran
³Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, PO Box 7390, Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799, USA

Javid Kavousi, Jafar Seyfabadi, Hamid Rezai, and Douglas Fenner (2011) Density and destruction of hard-coral communities of Qeshm I., on the Iranian side of the Persian Gulf, were investigated using the line-intercept transect method in 2009. The study covered 2 main coral areas of the island designated as site SHD in the south with 2 stations and site SOEA in the southeast with 3 stations. The SOEA site had fringing reefs along with patches of coral colonies, whereas the SHD site’s corals were distributed as separate colonies in the area. The live coral coverage recorded at Qeshm I. was 10.27% ± 6.4%, and significantly differed (p < 0.05) between sites SHD at 14.03% ± 4.8% and SOEA at 8.24% ± 6.4%; differences among stations within the 2 sites were not significant (p > 0.05). Overall, 10 coral genera were recorded from the island: 8 at each of the 2 sites. Porites was the dominant genus recorded at Qeshm, and the SOEA site and its stations. In contrast, the dominant genera at SHD were Favia and Platygyra. No difference in dominant genera among the stations at SOEA was observed, but the dominant genera between SHD stations differed. Among several factors contributing to the destruction of corals of Qeshm I., overgrowth of algae, red tides, human activities, coral diseases, and fish biting were most important.

Key words: Coral community, Density, Destruction, Qeshm I., Persian Gulf.

*Correspondence: Tel: 98-912-2182335. Fax: 98-191-3253839. E-mail:jseyfabadi@gmail.com