Paragoniastrea australensis, Lesser star coral

Paragoniastrea australensis   (Milne-Edwards & Haime, 1857)

Lesser star coral
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | CoL | ITIS | WoRMS

Hexacorallia | Scleractinia | Merulinidae

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

Reef-associated; depth range 0 - 40 m (Ref. 848).  Tropical; 36°N - 37°S, 32°E - 108°W (Ref. 848)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Indo-Pacific and Southwest Atlantic.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm

Short description Morphology

Colony: massive, submassive, or encrusting. Corallites: very meandroid with long valleys, or sub-meandroid with short valleys of 1 to 3 centers. Most with deep, steep sided valleys and distinct corallite centers. Septa: regularly spaced, equal and even; paliform lobes present; margins with fine dentations. Large and conspicuous columella. Thecae thickness varies greatly. Skeletal structures vary between environments. Colors also variable but are mostly uniformly dull brown or green; walls and valley floors occasionally in contrasting colors (Ref. 085244).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Found on rocky and gravel bottom at depths between 1.8 to 21.6 m. Also on volcanic submarine beds (Ref. 88968) and most tropical coral reef environments (Ref. 85244).

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

Hermaphroditic (Ref. 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

Veron, J.E.N. 2000. (Ref. 848)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-2)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 27 October 2023

CITES status (Ref. 108899)

Appendix II: International trade monitored

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Human uses


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References

Internet sources

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

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 23.8 - 27.8, mean 26.7 (based on 162 cells).
Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.

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