A preliminary study on habitat characteristics and substrate preference of coral species distributed in the Dardanelles

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the characteristics of living substrata of two scleractinian corals in the Dardanelles by performing the ecologic and petrographical analyses. The Mediterranean originated Caryophyllia smithii and Balanophyllia europaea are frequent coral species in the Dardanelles and the studied area between 11 and 25 m depth is known as highly distributed zone of the species. In situ, the spreading area was searched by scuba technique and the ecological characteristics of species have been measured. For the purpose of petrographical analyses, six coral individuals were collected with the associated rock samples. According to the obtained data it was determined that the rock samples are mainly composed of sandstone, micritic limestone and rhyolithic tuff. Additionally it was found that porosity in rock structure has a positive effect on coral settlement and the habitat choice in B. europaea and C. smithii can differ based on the rock structure. Ecological, biological and zoogeographical features of Anthozoan species distributed in the Turkish coasts are still poorly known. However the available data about coral distribution in the specific habitats such as the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus (Turkish Straits System, Marmara Sea) are very few and need to be increased for updating the ecological situation of species globally.

Keywords

• Coral, Balanophyllia europaea, Caryophyllia smithii, petrography, Marmara Sea

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