Stylophora madagascarensis
Stylophora madagascarensis is a species of stony coral in the family Pocilloporidae. It is native to the tropical western Indian Ocean where it is confined to the coasts of Madagascar, growing in shallow water.
From the article Stylophora madagascarensis on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
Stylophora madagascarensis is a colonial species of coral forming clumps of slender, compact branches with blunt ends. The branches are up to five millimetres (0.20 in) in diameter. The corallites (stony cups in which the polyps sit) are crowded and circular, with those near the tips of the branches often being hooded. The corallites have six septa (stony plates forming the wall of the corallite) fused to a central, style-like columella. The coenosteum (the coral's stony skeleton) is covered with tiny spines. This is a zooxanthellate species of coral, the tissues of which harbour single-celled dinoflagellates living in symbiosis with the coral and providing it with nourishment. The polyps expand to feed at night and are retracted during the daytime. This coral is pale brown in colour, sometimes with pinkish bases to the branches.
Range & habitat
This coral is endemic to the coasts of Madagascar. It grows in shallow water, both on moderately exposed reefs and in more sheltered lagoons, where it tends to have longer branches.
Wikipedia: “Distribution”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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Every page naming Stylophora madagascarensis in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 113390.