The health status and distribution of hard coral communities were investigated on Hengam, Qeshm, and Larak islands in the Persian Gulf by Reef Check, line transect, and manta-tow. According to results, there was a significant difference in hard coral cover among the studied islands. The highest and lowest live coral cover percentages were 8.34 ± 1.2% on Hengam and 1.05 ± 0.3% on Qeshm, respectively. The highest and lowest bleached coral cover values were 23.41 ± 5.74% and 3.61 ± 0.84% on Hengam and Qeshm islands, respectively. Species diversity on Larak Island was higher than on the other two islands. Twenty-five species of macrobenthos were identified in the corals of the three islands. Coral mortality index values for coral habitats at each study site on the three islands showed that most sites were degraded. Hard coral diversity and coral habitat health have decreased compared to past data, which suggests that human destructive factors and climate change might have affected these habitats.
Hesni et al. (Fri,) studied this question.