Condition and structure of hard coral (scleractinian) in Pulau Sembilan Waters Sinjai regency South Sulawesi

Information of coral diversity in an ecosystem was needed to find out how much potential of corals were in a location. The importance of this information was the basis for determining management and conservation model that would be carried out to preserve and to sustain these resources. The measurement and sampling were carried out by using Line Intercept Transect to determine the corals’ cover and the damage level. Put 10 x 10 m plot in reefflat area then identified genus and counted the number of colonies in the plot. Furthermore, the indexes of the diversity, the uniformity and the dominance were calculated. Identification of coral genus used coral finder book. Result of the percentage of coral cover which lived in pulau Sembilan waters was an average of 19,77 % and was categorized as damaged condition, it could be seen from the dominance of the dead coral to live coral. There were 29 of hard corals genus, the most form of lifeform namely massive and branching. The level of coral diversity was moderate, the uniformity was high and there was no coral genus that dominates.