Faunal Surveys of the Rowley Shoals, Scott Reef and Seringapatam Reef, North-Western Australia: Echinoderms

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 9 years ago

Abstract: The echinoderm fauna of the Rowley Shoals, Scott and Seringapatam Reefs (atolls arising from the depressed shelf edge off north-western Australia) is characteristic of oceanic reefs surrounded by clear, deep oceanic water.

Sampling sites included reef flat zones, outer slopes swith differing exposures to wave action, lagoon knolls and soft substrates. 

A total of 132 species is recorded, 117 from Scott and Seringapatam Reefs and 90 from the Rowley Shoals; 14 of these, excluding Holothurioidea, are new records for Western Australia (Oxycomanthus benniti, O. comamthipinna, Stephanometra indica, S. Spicata, Decametra parva and Dorometra nana; Macrophiothrix aspidota, M. demessa, Ophiothrix (Keystonea) nereidina, Ophiomastix palaeosis, Ophiarachnella snelliusi and Ophioconis cupida; Parasalenia poehli and Fibularia ovulum). 

Three-quarters of the echinoderms are common between the Rowley Shoals and Scott Reef, but the latter apparently has a richer echinoderm fauna which may be due to greater proximity to the Indonesian archipelago. The fauna consists almost entirely of widespread Indo-West Pacific species together with a few which have a more restricted distribution to the north of Australia.