ABSTRACT
Regular investigations, over a six year period, by a team of divers from the ORSTOM center at Noumea (New Caledonia), produced a collection of 236 species of Echinoderms for the lagoon, the reef and its external slope to a depth of 60m. This comprises 31 species of comatulid, 60 holothuroids, 35 echinoids, 50 asteroids, and 60 ophiuroids. The composition of the echinoderm fauna of the coral reef of New Caledonia shows its closed relationship with the fauna of the Great Barrier of Australia. Most of the species are common in the tropical indo-west-pacific zone. Some of the new species have since been taken again in the Polynesia area.
