PATTERNS OF CORAL RECRUITMENT AT THE GNEERING SHOALS, SOUTHEAST QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA

Recruitment patterns of scleractinian corals were investigated at the Gneering Shoals, a coral-dominated rocky-reef south of the Great Barri er Reef, in subtropical Queensland. The density of recruits (mean of 0 .8 to 6.3 recruits per tile (15 cm x 15 cm) pair from 4 sites) was the lowest ever recorded from six regions in tropical or subtropical east ern Australia that have been studied using directly comparable methods . Recruitment in summer was dominated by recruits from the Family Acro poridae, while corals from the Family Pocilloporidae recruited through out the year. Recruits of massive corals and Turbinaria sp., which dom inate the established coral communities, were absent. Possible explana tions for the low recruitment rate in the region, include the depth of most sites (> 10m), competition for space with fouling organisms, and isolation, that is the failure of the south flowing East Australian C urrent to supply tropical larvae regularly from the Great Barrier Reef , 250 km to the north. The low coral recruitment rate at Gneering Shoa ls indicates that this region is unlikely to act as a ''stepping-stone '' for dispersal of tropical corals to more southern regions, which ar e more directly influenced by the East Australian Current.