Octocoral communities play an important role in providing shelter and food resources for a diverse range of marine organisms. They are highly diverse and abundant in the Southern water of Hong Kong, and they are found in more turbid deeper water with strong current and reduced sunlight, because most of them are filter feeders that doesn’t rely on photosynthesis by symbiotic zooxanthellate as their hard coral counterpart in shallower water. Accordingly, they are usually understudied and overlooked given the difficulty in survey and identification, despite their ecological importance. Last survey for Hong Kong octocorals was conducted more than a decade ago and revealed a highly diverse octocoral community in Hong Kong Southern water. Yet their status was not further monitored and there is also lack of study for the rich diversity of invertebrate fauna supported by these octocoral communities.
 

This project attempts to update the diversity and distribution of octocorals and their associated invertebrates at 30 selected locations in Southern water, enhancing our understanding and complementing conservation plans of the rich biodiversity residing in the deeper waters of Hong Kong. This is especially important given that with the rapid development in Hong Kong economy and future need for development in Southern water. We attempted to identify the location with high diversity and coverage of octocoral and determine the importance of octocorals in supporting other invertebrates so we can identify location with high conservation value. Furthermore, photo album for the quick  identification  of  octocoral  and  associated species was produced to facilitate future monitoring programme and public education activities to promote the engagement of citizen in conservation in the long run.

Study on the diversity and distribution of octocoral community and associated invertebrates in southern waters of Hong Kong (MCEF20109)