Surveys of soft corals were conducted on 11 inner-shelf, mid-shelf, outer-shelf and Coral Sea reefs between November 1980 and November 1981. The reefs surveyed were Havannah Island, Phillips, Pandora, Davies, John Brewer, Rib, Dip, Myrmidon, Flinders "South". Flinders Cay and Flinders "Southwest". These reefs (except for Davies Reef) were located along an approximately SW-NE transect across the central Great Barrier Reef and into the Coral Sea.Soft coral genera were recorded along 25-40m transects located within contiguous 5m bands (sites) from the reef crest down the reef slope. Reef flat areas adjacent to the reef slope locations were also surveyed along transects generally 40m in length, situated parallel to the reef edge. The total percentage cover of soft corals and the relative percentage cover of each soft coral genus to the total soft coral cover were visually estimated using a 7-point graded cover scale. Soft corals that could not be identified to genus were collected for identification in the laboratory.Environmental data collected at each site included exposure to swell and wave action, depth, angle of slope, approximate percentages of hard and soft substrate, relative proportion of hard and soft substrate types and estimates of the total percentage cover of hard corals.
