Montipora spongiosa   (Ehrenberg,  1834) (Hard Coral)
Organism information awaits expert curation
Taxonomy
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Cnidaria
Class: Anthozoa
Order:Scleractinia
Family:Acroporidae
Description
Colonies are clumps of irregularly contorted or flattened branches, which may fuse. Corallites usually have a prominent lower lip and are deep and conspicuous. There is no development of papillae or other ornamentation.

Synonym (s)
• Madrepora hemprichii Ehrenberg, 1834
Common Name (s)
• Pore Coral (English)
Economic Importance and Threats
Threats:  Natural threats, Anthropogenic
(Protected under Indian Wild Life Protection Act, 1972)
Ecology
Habitat:  Reef Associated
Trophic Level:  Consumer
IUCN Status:  Least Concern
Biogeography


• Lakshadweep INDIA
• Tamil Nadu, Krusadai Island INDIA
• Tamil Nadu, Shingle Island INDIA
Literature Source(s)
  • Cairns, DS; Hoeksema, WB and Derland, JV (1999) List of extant stony corals Atoll Research Bulletin National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C, U. S. A 459 13-46 Available at - NIO, RC, Kochi
  • Venkataraman, K; Satyanarayana, CH; Alfred, JRB and Wolstenholme, J (2003) Handbook on hard corals of India ZSI, Kolkata 266 pp Available at - NIO, Goa
  • Sealifebase Available at - http://www.sealifebase.org/
  • Wafar, MVM and Wafar, S (2001) 101 questions on corals: Towards awareness National Institute of Oceanography, Goa and Administration of the U.T. of Lakshadweep 81 pp Available at - NIO, Goa
  • Carpenter, KE; Abrar, M; Aeby, G; Aronson, RB; Banks, S et al. (2008) One third of reef building corals face elevated extinction risk from climate change and local impacts Science American Association for the Advancement of Science 321 125-126 Available at - http://sci.odu.edu/gmsa/about/Carpenter_corals_supplimental.pdf
  • Society for the Management of European Biodiversity Data (2009) World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) Available at - http://www.marinespecies.org
  • Pillai, CSG (1969) Stony corals of the seas around India Proceedings of the Symposium on corals and coral reefs Marine Biological Association of India, Cochin 191-216 Available at - NIO RC, Kochi
  • (2003) IUCN Red list of threatened species Available at - http://www.iucnredlist.org/
  • Venkataraman, K (2005) Coral reef ecosystem and the diversity of reef building corals in India Proceedings of the National Seminar on Reef Ecosystem Remediation SDMRI Special Research Publication No.9 10-24 Available at - http://www.sdmri.org/reports/proceedings%202005%20-%20sdmri.pdf
  • Pillai, CSG (1971) Composition of the coral fauna of the southeastern coast of India and the Laccadives Symposium of the zoological society of London 28 301-327 Available at - http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/6215/1/601.pdf
Page last updated on:2011-04-08

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