American Samoa Reef Macroinvertebrate Inventory, 1992, (NODC Accession 9900054)

This data set includes data from a 1992 survey of the American Samoa coral reef ecosystem, collected as part of the American Samoa Coastal Resources Inventory (ASCRI), partly funded by Sea Grant. This component of the study focuses on a systematic inventory of conspicuous marine macroinvertebrate observations. Coral reefs of American Samoa support a diverse fauna of benthic invertebrates other than scleractinian corals that is characteristic of the tropical Indo-West Pacific region delineated by Ekman (1953). Sponges, nonscleractinian cnidarians, molluscs, and echinoderms comprised the major elements of the 83 species of conspicuous, epibenthicinvertebrates recorded in this survey. Sampling methods employed in this survey were adapted to gather maximum qualitative data within a finite timeframe. Therefore, highly motile and cryptic species of invertebrates are under-represented in the information presented herein, and infaunal invertebrates are excluded. These data are filed were filed at the National Oceanographic Data Center under NODC Accession #9900054.