The grey reef shark Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos is one of the most frequently encountered reef‐associated shark species in the Maldives, yet very little is known about its local size structure or population dynamics. This study provides new insights into two aggregations of C. amblyrhynchos in the Maldives, based on biometric measurements obtained with laser photogrammetry, standardized visual surveys, opportunistic behavioural...

Verified records of the bull shark Carcharhinus leucas are lacking in the Maldives. This study provides the first confirmed evidence of 23 sightings observed from 2013 to 2023 in the central and southern atolls of this archipelago. Most of the sightings occurred in close proximity to inhabited areas, where food waste is often discarded into the water, or in several dive sites, suggesting the presence of this species in differe...

Scleractinian corals provide habitats for a broad variety of cryptofauna, which in turn may contribute to the overall functioning of coral symbiomes. Among these invertebrates, hydrozoans belonging to the genus Zanclea represent an increasingly known and ecologically important group of coral symbionts. In this study, we analysed 321 Zanclea colonies associated with 31 coral genera collected from 11 localities across the Indo-P...

The cushion seastar Culcita schmideliana has gained major attention in the last few years because of its selective predation on juvenile corals, as well as its ability to generate large demographic assemblages, causing delays in coral recovery after large mortality events in the Republic of Maldives. However, a lack of data regarding the factors affecting its distribution and habitat selection still persists in this area. Here...

Modern systematics integrating molecular and morphological data has greatly improved our understanding of coral evolutionary relationships during the last two decades and led to a deeply revised taxonomy of the order Scleractinia. The family Merulinidae (Cnidaria: Scleractinia) was recently subjected to a series of revisions following this integrated approach but the phylogenetic affinities of several genera ascribed to it rem...

Hydrozoans of the genus Zanclea have been acknowledged only recently as a fundamental component of the highly diverse fauna associated with reef‐building scleractinian corals. Although widely distributed in coral reefs and demonstrated to be important in protecting corals from predation and diseases, the biodiversity of these hydrozoans remains enigmatic due to the paucity of available morphological characters, incomplete morp...