China publishes monograph on corals in Zhongsha Islands

BEIJING, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers have recently published a monograph on hermatypic corals in the Zhongsha Islands in the South China Sea, providing valuable first-hand information for studying their diversity and distribution pattern.

From 2019 to 2021, the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences organized a series of comprehensive scientific expedition voyages to the Zhongsha Islands. In the process, experts identified and recorded a total of 200 hermatypic coral species belonging to 16 families and 58 genera.

The monograph published by the institute discusses the geographical and environmental characteristics of the Zhongsha Islands, and the research history and present situation of hermatypic corals in the Zhongsha Islands.

Combined with the latest research results of the international hermatypic coral taxonomy, the monograph describes the biological characteristics, habitat and distribution, and endangered categories of each coral, and displays the corals' underwater ecological photos in situ.

The monograph also calls for strengthening the monitoring and conservation of the coral reef ecosystem in the Zhongsha Islands to protect the precious offshore coral reef resources.