Current status of coral reefs in Tioman Island, Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

The present study aimed to determine the current status of corals using the coral video transect (CVT) method in the eastcoast, west coast, and isolated areas of Tioman Island, Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 65 genera from 21 families of corals were identified,from which the scleractinian corals ofAcropora ,Montipora , andPoriteswere dominant in the coral assemblages. Nine reef sites werecategorised as having good (51.4% 60.3%) coral condition and four reef sites as having fair (37.6% 49.2%) coral condition. This studyconcluded that the reefs around Tioman Island were in good average coral condition and have high generic diversity with mixed coralmorphological structures. The east coast and isolated areas had better live coral cover compared to the west coast area due to less coastaldevelopment and human impacts.