Indian Journal of Geo-Marine Sciences Vol. 43(4), April 2014, pp. 538-541 Report on one caryophylliid and two dendrophylliid corals in Indian water from Andaman and Nicobar Islands Tamal Mondal*, C Raghunathan and K Venkataraman 1 Zoological Survey of India, Andaman and Nicobar Regional Centre, National Coral Reef Research Institute, Haddo, Port Blair 744 102, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India 1 Zoological Survey of India, Prani Vigyan Bhawan, M- Block, New Alipore, Kolkata 700 053, India [E-mail: t_genetics@yahoo.com] Received 9 October 2012; revised 1 December 2012 Diversity of Scleractinian of Andaman and Nicobar Islands has been showing a wide range of species composition of zooxanthallate corals. Thirteen species of azooxanthallete corals belonging to two families have been reported so far from these islands. Paracyathus caeruleus Duncan, 1889 belonging to family Caryophylliidae, Balanophyllia merguiensis Duncan, 1889 and Balanophyllia vanderhorsti Cairns, 2001 belong to Dendrophylliidae family have been identified and reported as new record to Indian water from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Detailed taxonomic description of these three new records of azooxanthallate corals is discussed this paper. [Keywords: New record of Azooxanthallate, Andaman and Nicobar Islands] Introduction Coralla of azooxanthallate species are usually small, solitary and do not contribute to reef structure. Azooxanthallate belongs to an ecological class of scleractinian corals and does not show symbiosis with dinoflagellate algae 1 . Majority of these corals occur in deeper water with the depth range of 200 m to 6328 m 2,3 . One third of the recent genera is colonial and occurs below the euphotic zone at temperatures of -1 to 29ºC and at latitudes from Arctic Circle to continental Antartica 4 . Some families are exclusively azooxanthallate where as some are predominantly azooxanthallate such as Caryophylliidae and Dendrophylliidae. Present study depicts the taxonomical description of three species of azooxanthallate corals belonging to Caryophylliidae and Dendrophylliidae families. These are new record to Indian waters from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Material and Methods An undersea faunal survey was carried out at different islands of Andaman and Nicobar Islands during December 2011 and January 2012 by employing Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) to the maximum depth of 43 m. Sampling of corals was made to examine detailed morphological characters for taxonomical study. Collected specimens were kept in freshwater for few days and washed thoroughly with running water and dried. Taxonomic identification was carried out as described by Duncan 5 and Cairns 6 . Corallite of the specimens were examined to study the key taxonomical features under the stereo zoom microscope (Leica, M 205 A). On the completion of study, the specimens were registered in National Zoological Collections and deposited at Zoological Survey of India, ANRC, Port Blair. Results Taxonomic descriptions of the newly recoded three azooxanthallate are given below. Order: SCLERACTINIA Bourne, 1900 Suborder: CARYOPHYLLIINA Vaughan and Wells, 1943 Family: CARYOLLIIDAE Milne Edwards and Haime, 1848 Genus: Paracyathus Wood, 1844 1. Paracyathus caeruleus Duncan, 1889 (Fig. 1) Material Examined—Two corallum were observed at North Passage Island (Lat.12°17.410’N and Long. 092°55.603’ E) on 11.12.2011 at a depth of —————— *Correspondence author