Occurrence of Soft and Hard Corals at Igang Bay and Villa Corazon, Nueva Valencia, Guimaras, Philippines

Abstract

The distribution of soft and hard corals is due to prevailing environmental conditions, coral anatomical features and structural composition and presence or absence of predators and competitors. The study determined the occurrence of soft and hard corals in Igang Bay, Nueva Valencia, Guimaras, Philippines. Ocular survey was conducted at front beach of Villa Igang and transect - quadrat sampling was carried out. The results showed that soft corals found in Igang Bay include the genera Lobophytum, Radianthus, Sarcophyton, Sinularia and Xenia and hard corals include those that belong to Acropora, Coeloseris, Coscinaraea, Favia, Favites, Fungia, Lonophyllia, Millepora, Montipora and Porites genera. Hard corals had a greater cover with a total of 38.94% while soft corals had 3.33%. In each transect, hard corals occupied more space than soft corals. There were 6 colonies for hard corals and none for soft corals. Physico - chemical conditions, particularly the salinity did not vary between three sampling points with a value of 29 ppt. and the temperature between surface and bottom had an average of 31°C and 31.7°C.The water depth ranged from 0.9 to 1.1 meters. Generally, the substrate type was rocky and sandy with presence of some coral rubbles in some portions along the transect lines.