Reef Building Corals of Brunei

What many people do not know is that in our small peaceful nation of Brunei Darussalam, we surprisingly hosts a diverse fauna of reef corals of more than 400 species! That comprised approximately half the global tally for this important group - the major builders of modern coral reefs.

Corals are notoriously difficult to identify. What the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources of Brunei Darussalam through the Fisheries Department has made that identification task easier by publishing this book "Field Guide to Reef-building Corals of Brunei Darussalam". Thus making this book a boon to divers, students, scientists, and indeed all with an interest in the tropical marine realm.

In the book each coral species is illustrated with high quality underwater photographs of the living coral and a close up image of the skeleton, accompanied by informative text that highlights the key characters for successful identification. We need to document and name the newly discovered species associated with coral ecosystems as there will be many species that may have been exinct before science can get to them. Our coral ecosystems are threatened by climate change, overfishing and pollution. Hopefully this book will bring some light to the global community of the importance of the coral econsystem.

This book is written by Emre Turak and Lyndon DeVantier. Together, they both have more than 50 years experience researching coral ecology, biogeography and taxinomy in the Indo-Pacific Region. It is a sequel to a much earlier book, "Coral Reefs of Brunei Darussalam" and accompanies the Coral Reference Collection housed in Brunei Marine Life Centre in Meragang.