Annotated checklist of Octocorallia from Indian Coast

The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) was established on 1st July, 1916 to promote survey, exploration and research leading to the advancement in our knowledge of various aspects of exceptionally rich life of the erstwhile "British Indian Empire". The survey has its genesis in the establishment of the Zoological Section of the Indian Museum at Calcutta in 1875. Initially, the Survey acquired the Zoological collections of more than a century old from former Museum (1814 -1875) of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and Zoological Section of the Indian Museum (1875-1916) in Calcutta. The Survey has established so far 16 Regional and Field Stations, and has developed into a major National Institution. It functions as the guardian of the National Zoological Collections, containing over a million identified specimens from all animal groups ranging from Protozoa to Mammals. Extensive and intensive field explorations are undertaken by the Survey in different parts of the country for the studies of fauna, systematic zoology, animal ecology, wildlife and zoogeography, behaviour, population and also marine fauna and the results of the explorations and research are published.