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Marine Biodiversity Survey of Mermaid Reef (Rowley Shoals), Scott and Seringapatam Reef Western Australia 2006 Edited by Clay Bryce

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Marine Biodiversity Survey of Mermaid Reef (Rowley Shoals), Scott and Seringapatam Reef Western Australia 2006 Edited by Clay Bryce ISBN 978-1-920843-50-2 ISSN 0313 122X Scott and Seringapatam Reef. Western Australia Marine Biodiversity Survey of Mermaid Reef (Rowley Shoals), Marine Biodiversity Survey of Mermaid Reef (Rowley Shoals), Scott and Seringapatam Reef Western Australia 2006 2006 Edited by Clay Bryce Edited by Clay Bryce Suppl. No. Records of the Western Australian Museum 77 Supplement No. 77 Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement No. 77 Marine Biodiversity Survey of Mermaid Reef (Rowley Shoals), Scott and Seringapatam Reef Western Australia 2006 Edited by Clay Bryce Records of the Western Australian Museum The Records of the Western Australian Museum publishes the results of research into all branches of natural sciences and social and cultural history, primarily based on the collections of the Western Australian Museum and on research carried out by its staff members. Collections and research at the Western Australian Museum are centred on Earth and Planetary Sciences, Zoology, Anthropology and History. In particular the following areas are covered: systematics, ecology, biogeography and evolution of living and fossil organisms; mineralogy; meteoritics; anthropology and archaeology; history; maritime archaeology; and conservation. Western Australian Museum Perth Cultural Centre, James Street, Perth, Western Australia, 6000 Mail: Locked Bag 49, Welshpool DC, Western Australia 6986 Telephone: (08) 9212 3700 Facsimile: (08) 9212 3882 Email: [email protected] Minister for Culture and The Arts The Hon. John Day BSc, BDSc, MLA Chair of Trustees Mr Tim Ungar BEc, MAICD, FAIM Acting Executive Director Ms Diana Jones MSc, BSc, Dip.Ed Editors Dr Mark Harvey BSC, PhD Dr Paul Doughty BSc(Hons), PhD Editorial Board Dr Alex Baynes MA, PhD Dr Alex Bevan BSc(Hons), PhD Ms Ann Delroy BA(Hons), MPhil Dr Bill Humphreys BSc(Hons), PhD Dr Moya Smith BA(Hons), Dip.Ed. PhD The Records of the Western Australian Museum is published approximately three times per year. A series of Supplements is also produced. The Records are available for sale and exchange, the current price being $11 plus postage per part. Each volume comprises four Parts. Subscriptions can be taken out for whole volumes at a rate of $33 plus postage. Supplements can be purchased from the Western Australian Museum Bookshop. Prices on request. Prices include GST. Published by the Western Australian Museum © Western Australian Museum, December 2009. ISSN 0313 122X ISBN 978-1-920843-50-2 Front cover: photo Sue Morrison; Back cover: photo (top) John Huisman, photo (bottom) Sue Morrison; Inside cover: photo Clay Bryce. Table of Contents Chief Executive Officer’s Overview, Diana S. Jones ................................................................................................. ix Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................................................... xi Participants and Authors .............................................................................................................................................xv Transect and Station Data Clay Bryce Station and Transect Data for Mermaid (Rowley Shoals), Scott and Seringapatam Reefs, Western Australia. .......................................................................................................................................... 1 Sub-tidal Habitats Peter F. Morrison Subtidal Habitats of Mermaid Reef (Rowley Shoals), Scott and Seringapatam Reefs, Western Australia. ................................................................................................................................................... 29 Marine Flora John M. Huisman, Frederik Leliaert, Heroen Verbruggen and Roberta A. Townsend Marine Benthic Plants of Western Australia’s Shelf-Edge Atolls ..................................................................... 50 Marine Fauna Jane Fromont and Mathew A. Vanderklift Porifera (sponges) of Mermaid, Scott and Seringapatam Reefs, north Western Australia ........................... 89 David McKinney A survey of the scleractinian corals at Mermaid, Scott, and Seringapatam Reefs, Western Australia. ................................................................................................................................................. 105 M.A. Titelius, A. Sampey, and C.G. Hass Crustaceans of Mermaid (Rowley Shoals), Scott and Seringapatam Reefs, north Western Australia .................................................................................................................................................. 145 Clay Bryce and Corey Whisson The macromolluscs of Mermaid (Rowley Shoals), Scott and Seringapatam Reefs, Western Australia .................................................................................................................................................. 177 Clay Bryce and Loisette Marsh Echinodermata (Asteroidea, Echinoidea and Holothuroidea) of Mermaid (Rowley Shoals), Scott and Seringapatam Reefs, Western Australia ............................................................................. 209 Glenn Moore and Sue Morrison Fishes of three North West Shelf atolls off Western Australia:Mermaid (Rowley Shoals), Scott and Seringapatam Reefs ............................................................................................................................. 221 Above: Kimberley Quest 1 anchored off Seringapatam Reef. (Photo: Clay Bryce) Above: Boat tenders with a coxswain and standby diver were used for all diver retrieval work. (Photo: Glenn Moore) Above: Channel entrance to North Scott Reef. (Photo: Clay Bryce) Above: Tender transport was used extensively to reach station sites. (Photo: Clay Bryce) From top: Station 37, North Scott Reef outer reef flat; Station 34, North Scott Reef; North end of Sandy Islet, South Scott Reef. Station 32, North Scott Reef. (Photos: John Huisman) Above: Sandy Islet, South Scott Reef – looking south at low tide. (Photo: Clay Bryce) Above: Drupa ricinus (Linnaeus, 1758). A common mollusc of the outer reef platforms of Mermaid Reef. (Photo: Clay Bryce) Above: Station 39, North Scott Reef. Coral devastation surrounding live monolithic coral outcrops. (Photo: Clay Bryce) ix Chief Executive Officer’s Overview The Western Australian Museum has been researching Western Australia’s marine fauna since 1892. Collections from the Fremantle area and the Swan River were the first to grace the museum’s collection areas. This modest start was to gather pace, albeit slowly, as the state blossomed. The sheer immensity of the state was a vexing issue. With a shoreline exceeding 12,500 km and extending across more degrees of latitude than any other geopolitical entity in the southern hemisphere the challenge to document the marine fauna was, and still is, formidable. The expanse of the state ensures a high diversity of habitats spanning both temperate and tropical zones. As such, Western Australia is home to a diverse and abundant array of marine life. Further out to sea, along our equally long continental edge, there is a relatively unknown deep water fauna surviving in habitats defined by depth, and therefore pressure, topographic gradation and soft sediments. The marine life in these dark depths is still relatively unknown. From about 17o 40’south latitude, near the southern edge of the Rowley Shoals, and extending northwards, the continental slope periodically and dramatically rises steeply to the surface forming a chain of atolls. These “oases of life” represent a unique habitat for Western Australia. In 1983 the WA Museum conducted a marine biodiversity survey of these continental-edge atolls (Rowley Shoals, Scott and Seringapatam Reefs) and the findings were published as a Supplement to the WA Museum Records in 1986 (Berry). Twenty years later, in 2006, through generous support from Woodside Energy, the museum was able to revisit the area. As with the earlier 1983 survey, this new undertaking investigated the biodiversity of the reefs and the bio-geographic distributions of the various marine taxa inhabiting them. Woodside Energy has been a strong supporter of the WA Museum’s marine research and development and our award winning partnership has stretched over 11 years. During this time the partnership has yielded an amazing wealth of published scientific data. These data have also been made available to the wider community in the form of displays, websites, public talks and documentary productions. This current Supplement to the WA Museum Records titled A Marine Biodiversity Survey of Mermaid Reef (Rowley Shoals), Scott and Seringapatam Reefs, Western Australia 2006, represents a significant contribution to our knowledge of this remote oceanic region. This volume supersedes the results from an unpublished, preliminary report completed in November 2006 (WA Museum Survey Team, 2006). The results, now having undergone further analysis, document a substantial cross-section of the biodiversity of the atoll reefs with peer reviewed papers concerning the sponges, corals, molluscs, echinoderms, crustaceans and fish, as well as the algae and seagrasses. Habitat video analysis was also undertaken at many of the sites visited. As with all museum surveys the findings in this volume are backed by carefully labelled voucher records. Without these specimen records to provide scientific evidence of what was observed the verification of new species and associated bio-geographic information used to determine distribution patterns of the various taxa would
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