Dipsastraea favus   (Forskål, 1775)

Head coral
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Dipsastraea favus

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | CoL | ITIS | WoRMS

Anthozoa | Scleractinia | Merulinidae

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Reef-associated; depth range 0 - 50 m (Ref. 115197).  Tropical; 41°N - 37°S, 26°E - 170°W

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Indo-Pacific. Tropical to subtropical.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cmCommon length : 2.0 cm DL male/unsexed; (Ref. 269)

Short description Morphology

The head coral is one of the numerous species so-called due to their rounded massive shape, similar to a human head. Corallites are evenly distributed, plocoid, exsert, circular or slightly oval, 1 to 2 cm in diameter, and usually separated from each other by a few millimeters. Colonies grow to about 1 m diameter and are found at all depths (Ref. 269). Color varies from grey-green, to brown; often mottled (Ref. 130769).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Corallites are evenly distributed, plocoid, exsert, circular or slightly oval, 1 to 2 cm in diameter, and usually separated from each other by few millimeters. Colonies grow to about 1 m diameter and are found at all depths (Ref. 269). Maximum depth from Ref. 98471. Colonies are found at all depths (Ref. 269). May occur on reef back margins (Ref. 848). Also on subtidal rocks, rocky reefs, outer reef channel, foreslopes, lagoons and inter-reef substrate (Ref. 98471).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Hermaphroditic (Refs. 113708, 113712). Mature gametes are shed into the coelenteron and spawned through the mouth. Life cycle: The zygote develops into a planktonic planula larva. Metamorphosis begins with early morphogenesis of tentacles, septa and pharynx before larval settlement on the aboral end (Ref. 833).

Main reference References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Hodgson, G. 1998. (Ref. 269)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 03 January 2008

CITES status (Ref. 108899)


CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Human uses


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Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Stocks
Ecology
Diet
Food items
Common names
Synonyms
Predators
Reproduction
Maturity
Spawning
Fecundity
Eggs
Egg development
Age/Size
Growth
Length-weight
Length-length
Morphology
Larvae
Abundance
References
Mass conversion

Internet sources

BHL | BOLD Systems | CISTI | DiscoverLife | FAO(Publication : search) | Fishipedia | GenBank (genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | Gomexsi | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | PubMed | Hexacorallians of the World | Tree of Life | Wikipedia (Go, Search) | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 24.5 - 29.1, mean 28.1 (based on 1300 cells).
Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.