Faunal Surveys of The Rowley Shoal, Scott Reef and Seringapatam Reef: North- western Australia.

The Rowley Shoals, Scott Reef and nearby Seringapatam Reef form a series of large emergent shelf atolls arising from depth of between 300 and 700m along the edge of the broad continental shelf about 260km from mainland north-western Australia. The Rowley Shoals have been described as morphologically the most perfect examples of shelf atolls in Australian waters and appear to represent three distinct stages of atoll formation. Experiencing oceanic water conditions, but with a semi-diurnal tidal range of at least 4.5m, these atolls exhibit an unusual, If not unique, combination of physical environmental and geomorphological characteristics. These are described as a background to the faunal inventories presented in subsequent parts of this publication