Indian Journal of Geo Marine Sciences Vol. 48 (01), January 2019, pp. 99-107 Occurrence of black corals (order: Antipatharian) in Andaman and Nicobar Island, India J. S. Yogesh Kumar 1 *, S. Geetha 2 , R. Sornaraj 2 & C. Raghunathan 3 1 Marine Aquarium and Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, Digha, West Bengal - 721428, India 2 Research Department of Zoology, Kamaraj College, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University Thoothukudi – 628003, Tamil Nadu, India 3 Zoological Survey of India, (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change), Government of India, M Block, New Alipore, Kolkata - 700 053, India [ E. mail: coralyogesh@yahoo.co.in] Received 04 August 2017; revised 22 November 2017 A total of 15 species of antipatharians were accounted from the study sites. Maximum number of species was reported in Henry Lawrence Island and minimum in Paget Island, Rowe Island and North Reef Island. The present study yielded seven species (Cupressopathes abies, C. pumila, Tanacetipathes hirta, Antipathes dendrochristos, Cladopathes plumose, Trissopathes tetracrada, Dendrobathypathes boutillieri) and all are first report to India. [Key words: Hexacoral, Antipatharians, Black corals, Andaman and Nicobar] Introduction The Antipatharians are commonly called as black corals or horny corals look like an upright and bushy growth forms and mimic gorgonian octocorals. Most of growth forms inhabit in the shallow tropical deep sea environment, their ecology and distribution are largely unknown 1-10 . Black corals are suspension plankton feeders and mostly present in shady or dark habitats, attached over the hard substrate 11-14 and the relationship with abiotic environmental features 15 . In Caribbean Sea, black corals reported below the euphotic zone 16 and most of the species reported in shallow reef environment along the Indo – Pacific coast 17-22 . The taxonomic studies on black corals along the seacoast of Indonesian Archipelago can be found in two detailed monographs 23-24 and also reported in the Northern Moluccas 25 , in Northeast Atlantic 26 , Bay of Biscay 27 and Maldives and Lakshadweep Archipelagos 28-29 . Shallow water black corals reported from Indo-Malayan region 22 . A total of eight species belonging two families and seven genera were recorded from Andaman and Nicobar Islands 30 . Black corals are very numerous in shallow tropical reef communities and are well documented in deep benthic communities, where the colonies may provide a substrate in habitats with poor complexity. Present study is to assess the community structure of antipatharian and reporting 15 species belonging to 11 genera, four families from Andaman and Nicobar Island. Material and Methods Andaman and Nicobar Archipelago have 572 reef islands between Myanmar (North) to Sumatra (South) 6 0 to 14 0 North and 92 0 to 94 0 East with 2000 km 2 coral reef cover (Figure 1). The black coral taxonomical study was conducted in different reef islands and samples were collected during June 2013 to July 2016 at a depth range of 5.0 – 40.0 m with the help of SCUBA. The specimens were identified based on the morphological characteristics such as growth form, colour, shape, size, colour of the polyp, diameter of the axis and spines arrangement 16 . Live colonies photo made by underwater digital camera (Canon G10) and spine arrangement of each species was examined under Leica –DFC 500 stereo microscope. The identified samples were deposited in the National Zoological Collection of ZSI, ANRC, Port Blair. Quantitative data were obtained at each study sites by using the adapted belt transect method and counting all the colonies observed along 5 transects with 2.0 m wide 31 (Including 1.0 m on each side of the diver) at depths of 5.0 to 40.0 m.