Shallow Water Stony Corals (Scleractinia, Milleporidae, and Stylasteridae) from Utila and Cayos Cochinos, Honduras

The coral reefs of Utila and Cayos Cochinos located in the western Caribbean region (Honduras) were studied in Summer 2010 in order to acquire information concerning their richness in stony corals (Scleractinia, Milleporidae, and Stylasteridae) down to 18？m depth. Ten sites in each location were visually surveyed. Fourty-six species and 12 forms of zooxanthellate scleractinian corals belonging to 21 genera were observed at Utila and 44 species and 12 forms belonging to 20 genera at Cayos Cochinos. At each site, 3 species of milleporids and one species of Stylaster (S. roseus) were also observed. Four forms of zooxanthellate scleractinian corals were new records from Honduras. Up to now, 53 species of scleractinian corals have been identified within the whole Honduran Caribbean coast. They belong to 24 genera. This number represents approximately 93% of all scleractinian coral species reported for the Caribbean. 1. Introduction The Caribbean coastline of Honduras, Central America, represents the southern end of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, although its marine resources are less extensive and studied than nearby Belize and Mexico [1]. However, the coastal zone contains mainland reef formations and a highly developed small island reef system which can be divided into three groups, the Bay Islands and Cayos Cochinos archipelago, the Mosquita cays and banks, and the small Swan Islands. The Bay Islands group has a number of smaller cays but is dominated by three major islands: Utila, Roatán, and Guanaja. These islands which rise up from deep water are relatively long and thin and oriented in a nearly east-west direction. Although small, they are surrounded by fringing reefs. Data concerning zooxanthellate scleractinian diversity in Honduras are very scarce. Up to now, only a limited number of authors studied the scleractinian diversity in Honduras. Tortora and Keith [2] presented a checklist of 15 species that they collected in the Swan Islands (some 150？km northeast of the mainland) during the summer 1974. Fenner [3] found 35 zooxanthellate and 6 azooxanthellate species of scleractinian corals plus 3 species of hydrocorals off the northwestern Roatán Island in April 1987 to a depth of 30？m. More recently, Guzman [4] determined the diversity of the coral fauna in all habitats down to 35？m depth at the Reserva Biologica Cayos Cochinos from surveys conducted from August 1994 to June 1996. He reported 53 species of zooxanthellate scleractinian species plus three Millepora. The objectives of this study were to obtain data about scleractinian diversity at