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rung von Korallenriffen bei Aqaba" (1974), that is on the Jordania n side of the Gulf near the 197 3 founded
Marine Science Station south of the town of Aqaba. The work also contains a list of the found corals.
These investigations were supplemented by H. MERGNER & A. SVOBODA (1977) with eco-functional
analyses of seasonal changes in the population of reef organisms and biological productivity measurements.
Finally a detailed quantitative analysis of a reef lagoon area 5 by 5 metres was carried out (H. MERGNER ,
1979), followed by the investigation of the coral community of a fore reef area 5 by 5 metres in a depth
of 10 to 12 metres (H. MERG ER & H. SC HUHMACHER, 1981). A part of the corals found there were
given to one of us (Sch.) for identification, some of them are mentioned in the present report.
On the invitation of the Jordania n Government a French group , led by M. PICHON and J . JAUBERT ,
worked at the young and still incomplete Marine Science Station near Aqaba in 1978. The Science Reports
of the group which have not been published yet, contain the results of the coral reef studies and a first
inventory of the corals livi ng there.
In 1977 and 1979 the "Saudi-Sudanese Commi ssion for the Exploitation of the Red Sea Resources"
together with PREUSSAG , Hannover (Fed . Rep. Germany), made [wo expeditions, Meseda I and II ,
to investigate metal-containing sediments in the Atlantis-II -Deep in the central Red Sea (Metalliferous
Sediments Atlantic-II -Deep). A further aim was to find out by means of ecological investigations how
damage through sea pollution could be avoided when exploiting the sediments. As part of these investigations
the benthos was explored and some corals were gathered which, however, are not yet evaluated. A
first report on these Meseda I and II cruises was published by H. TH IEL (1980).
Si nce 197 1 Hans W. FRICKE of the Max Planck Institut fur Verhaltensphysiologie in Seewiesen has
worked on animal behaviour in the Gulf of Aqaba. His observations, especially on fish but also on shrimps,
brittle stars, sea urchins, crinoids and sea anemones resulted in numerous puplications. He summarized
many of his experiences in his book "Bericht aus dem Riff" (1976). But all investigations in a coral reef
suffer from the fact that the length of stay under water with aqualungs is limited, whereas the surfacing
periods are disproportionately long due to the decompression. This can be improved considerably when
the diver can live under water. Therefore FRICKE built the underwater house " eritica" , which proved
to be an important instrument for the exploration of coral reefs. In April 1978 FR ICKE 's underwaterhou
e was placed on a coral reef 10 m deep near Eilat in the Gulf of Aqaba, and in Juni 1978 the first
12-day diving excursion was carried through. In 1978 and 1979 FRICKE reported on the " Neritica", and
in 1980 on "Control of different mating systems in a coral reef fish . . . " by experimental alteration of
the size of the Stylophora coral habitat. A treatise of H. FRICKE & E. VARESCHI on the "bubbles" of
Plerogyra sinuosa as photosynthetic organs is in press.
FRICKE'S last spectacular enterprise was diving with the submersible "Geo" to control the distribution
of corals in greater depths. From August to December 1981 he undertook many diving trips in the Gulf
of Aqaba as far as 200 metres deep . Some of the corals collected on this occasion are incorporated in the
present work. FR ICKE published a first report on his deep-diving operations in 1982. Another paper of
FRICKE, together with H. SCHUHMACHER, about the depth limits of Red Sea stony corals is in press.
2. Provenance and localities of the corals
The present maleriai consists of ci ifferent collecrions from various institutes and individuals as listed
in Table 1. The different localities, from Pos. 1 ro 4, 10 and 15, are shown in Fig. 1, the rest in Fig. 2.
A. Corals from non-resident Institutes
1. The Hebrew University Jerusalem
(Under "Material" in the systemarical part : Je-nls. SLR)
During the Hebrew University - Smithsonian Institution Joint Program, between 1967 and 1970,
members of the Department of Zoology of the Hebrew University Jerusalem collected corals at the following
localit ies, 38 1 of which are included in the present publication.