A goniopora stokesi community at Tatsugasako, Otsuki, Kochi, Japan: A new northernmost specimen-based record

The zooxanthellate scleractinian species Goniopora stokesi is widely distributed across the Indo-Pacific Ocean, and in Japan the northernmost records of this species are from Tatsukushi, Kochi on Shikoku, although these records are not associated with specimens deposited in museums. The species is unique among Goniopora in that it lives on soft bottom sediment, forming free-living colonies, and produces asexual daughter colonies, or ‘polyp balls,’ via budding from parent colonies. Here we report on a large G. stokesi community from Otsuki, Kochi, Japan, representing the northernmost specimen-based record of the species. Specimen-based records are important as verifiable baseline data in light of global warming and climate change, which is expected to drastically effect the marine flora and fauna of Kochi and surrounding areas.