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,"Iarine Science, Cape Ferguson ; Dr. H. DITLEV, University of Aarhus, Institute of Genetics and Ecology;
Prof. Dr. Y. LOVA , Tel Aviv University, Zoology Department; Prof. Dr. H. MERGN ER, Universitat Bochum,
Institut fUr Spezielle Zoologie; Dr. B. R. ROSEN , British Museum (Natural History) London; Dr. J . E. N.
VERO, , Australian Institute of Marine Science, Cape Ferguson; Dr. C. WALLACE, James Cook University
of orth Queensland , Townsville; Dr. M. WIJSMANN-BEST, Rij ksmuseum va n Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden.
In additio n, we are thankful to: Mrs. A. SCI·IEER, Darmstadt, for assistance in compiling the Index,
thorough text revision and assistance in reading the proofs ; Mrs. U. DOERK EN·SCHEER and Mrs. M.
EB INGER , Bornhei m, for translating various parts of the manuscript; W. KUMPF , Hessisches Landesmuseum
Darmstadt, fo r taking photos of part of the corals, and for making all enlargements, assisted by
E. ,"IANTHE I; H. MU ELLER , Darmstadt, for the graphic design of the tables.
Fi nally , we thank the Alexander von Humbold t Stiftung for subsidizing the printing costs of this work.
Abstract
A historical survey on Red Sea coral research covers the period from the first coral illustration of
T. SHAW (1738) to H. FRICKE'S submersible, which he used in 1981 to dive down to a depth of 200 m
and to collect corals. The research work proper started with P. FORSKAL (1775). In 1834 C. G. EHREN·
BERG published the results of a trip to the Red Sea wh ich he had made together with F. W. HEMPRI CH.
C. B. KLUNZINGER wh o had lived in Koseir for many years and who recorded the results of his work in
three volumes ( 1879), probably made the most valuable co ntribution on Red Sea corals. Another important
contrib ution on the coral fa una of the Red Sea came from E. v. MARENZ EL LER who also was the fi rst to
describe deep sea corals (1906). C. CROSSLAND, too, head of the Sudan Pearl Fishery and founder and
first director of the Marine Bi ological Station Ghardaqa (1922- 1938), made valuab le contributions to
coral research.
From 1968 to the 70ies the Cambridge Coral Starfish Resea rch Group in Port Sudan also dealt with
the corals of the local reefs (HEAD , 1980). In 1968 Israel's Marine Biological Laboratory was founded in
Eilat in the north of the Gulf of Aqaba, an institution which produced a lot of contributions to coral
research (e. g. LOVA & SLOBODKIN, 197 1). Last but not least, there are the funda mental works of
H. MERG ER and H. SCHUHMACHER (1974-1981) on the investigation of the coral reefs near Aqaba.
In addition to the corals collected in the Red Sea by G. SCH EER 1957 and 1962 and by H. FEUSTEL
1968, the Hessische Landesmuseum Darmstadt received sizeable coral collections from the Universities of
Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Basel , fro m the U.S. National Museum of Natural Hi story Washington, from the
Institute of Oceanography Port Sudan, and from diving expeditions of the sports teacher J . HOLLOSL
Further collections came from the Universitat Bochum, fro m the Museum fiir Naturkunde, Berlin, from
the Marine Research Laboratory Sf. Petersburg (Florida), and from H. FRICKE's deep·diving projects.
Moreover, the Hessische Landesmuseum Darmstadt also possesses an old coral collection including 33
duplicates fro m KLUNZ I GER. A special chapter of the In troduction consists of a tabular summary of
the colleclions, listing the locations - which are also marked on maps - , the inventory numbers and
mentioning depth data.
The systematic part of the present report deals with altogether 2074 corals that were ascribed to 194
species from 70 ge nera. Of these, 16 1 species from 51 genera with 1976 specimens are reef corals. The
remainder, 33 species from 19 genera with 98 specimens are ahermatypic corals. All 194 species are described,
their affinities discussed, and information is given abour their geographical distribution. 176 species
are figured. Four species are described as new to science, and 22 species were found for the first time in
the Red Sea .
24 Zooiogicli . 133