Abstract

Ritchies Archipelago, being the part of South Andaman, shows a variety of marine biodiversity in each of its thirteen islands. These islands show a great deal of scleractinian life on its continental shelf in a fringing pattern. The study will help up to get a summarized data of scleractinian diversity of this archipelago. The will be to take conservatory measure for the proper sustainable development of coral reef of the islands. A Total of 168 species of scleractinian corals were recorded during the study period from the study areas. Shannon Weaver Diversity index () of Scleractinian corals ofthe islands was recorded between 4.718 and 6.556, indicating very high coral diversity of those places. Similarity index (S) was also ranges from 29.41% to 73.89%, suggeststhe existence of species strong links between islands. Ritchies Archipelago is a group of islands which shows a variety of scleractinian corals. high level of species co-existence which harbours with the other associated faunal communities for their survival. The diversity of scleractinian corals in the Ritchies Archipelago is discussed in detail in this paper.