ABSTRACT: The Gulf of Guinea is a hotspot of marine diversity, with unique biotas. We provide the first survey of shallow-water foraminifera from nearshore coastal waters of Gabon, an area from which modern benthic foraminifera are virtually unknown. We document the composition of benthic assemblages and assess their biogeographic relation to adjacent faunal provinces. Our analysis survey documents that shallow-water sediments harbor abundant and relatively diverse assemblages of symbiont-bearing and other smaller foraminifera. The 39 species recorded from nearshore coastal waters off Gabon contrast with lower diversity assemblages previously documented from offshore hydrocarbon drilling waste disposal sites. The assemblages of benthic foraminifera recovered suggest a deeply-rooted species diversity, where the true number of foraminiferal taxa present in Gabonese’s pristine waters remains yet to be discovered. The composition of foraminiferal biotas found off Gabon shows them to be distinct from faunas recorded from off Namibia and South Africa, indicating the presence of a marine biogeographic barrier.