New Record of Six Scleractinians with Four Vulnerable and One near Threatened to Indian Waters from Nancowry Group of Islands, Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Six species of scleractinian coral were recorded for the first time from Nancowry group of islands of Andaman and Nicobar Islands during the underwater faunal exploration. The identified corals viz. Euphyllia paraglabrescens Veron, 1990 and Catalaphyllia jardinei (Saville-Kent, 1893) belonging to family Euphyllidae, Alveopora allingi Hoeffmeister, 1925 and Alveopora gigasVeron, 1985 under family Poritidae, Acropora crateriformis (Gardiner, 1898) belongs to Acroporidae family and Favia marshae Veron, 2000 belongs to Faviidae family were new records to Indian waters. The present paper deals with the taxonomical features of newly recorded six species of scleractinian corals with their distribution ranges.