Tapash Rudra
Abstract
With an overall span of 4,006 km2 and nurturing more than 550 species, Malaysian peninsula is one of the richest pockets of Southeast Asian coral diversity. However, these marine ornaments are under ominous threats as their existence have been pushed to the limits both by natural and anthropogenic factors. Huge number of studies have been carried out on the profiling of corals, but those are still far from convincing. Lack of qualitative, quantitative as well as biogeogrphical data are quite evident up to now. This review highlights various facets of coral lives from Malaysian perspective, with the aid of past, present and futuristic attributes. Natural damaging manifestations including mass bleaching of corals due to thermal stress, sedimentation etc. are the major contributing factors of the potential coral degradation. On the contrary, accelerated tourist activity, over fishing etc. are equally escalating to the mass coral depletion in Malaysian peninsula. Therefore, to restrict further loss of coral diversity Malaysian Govt. has to come up with a holistic approach in the coming days. Not only that, robust action plans, collaborative research and most importantly public awareness should be prioritized to minimize the gaps, whatever are existing at these levels.