Chagos Brain Coral
Ctenella chagius
Ctenella is a monotypic genus of stony coral in the family Euphylliidae. It is represented by a single species, Ctenella chagius. These corals are massive in size with meandering valleys between the calyces which have solid, non-porous walls and fine, evenly spaced, solid septae. They are found in the Indian Ocean being endemic to the Chagos Archipelago. It forms solid, smooth hemispherical domes.
From the article Ctenella on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
Ctenella chagius is a massive, hemispherical, colonial coral with a fissured surface and brain-like appearance. The individual polyps that secrete the stony skeleton project from stony cups called corallites arranged in rows in long meandering valleys. The width between the solid ridges on either side is about 1.5 cm (0.6 in) with the valleys being about 1 cm (0.4 in) deep. The fine septa that radiate from the corallites are closely packed and evenly spaced, some continuing upwards and over the ridges. This coral is a pale brown colour and can grow to a metre (yard) in diameter. It is a zooxanthellate coral and has symbiotic unicellular dinoflagellate algae living within its tissues.
Range & habitat
Ctenella chagius is found around the Chagos Islands. It is found in lagoons and on reef slopes at depths of up to 45 metres (148 ft).
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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In the stacks
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Every page naming Ctenella chagius 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 98739.