Maldives Marine Life

Marine life of Maldivian waters

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Spiny sea fans (Acanthogorgia)
No photo available
Photo: NOAA/Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (view on Wikimedia Commons)Preserved museum specimen. Coral photo: species not verifiable from image.

Spiny sea fans (Acanthogorgia)

Acanthogorgia

Genus-level entry: species are told apart only by microscopic features (sclerites). Valid genus (WoRMS, AphiaID 125293, checked 2026-10-31). Species recorded from the Maldives: Acanthogorgia flabellum, Acanthogorgia muricata.

Possibly present in the Maldives

English
Spiny sea fans (Acanthogorgia)
Scientific
Acanthogorgia
Dhivehi
No recorded Dhivehi name
Group
Soft corals and sea fans
Family
Acanthogorgiidae (spiny sea fans)
IUCN status
NE · Not EvaluatedNot Evaluated (NE) as a genus; most species not assessed
Record in the Maldives
Possibly present

Description

A spiny sea fan with prickly polyps standing out from thin branches, mostly in deeper water. Species are told apart only by microscopic features.

In the Maldives

Recorded from the Maldives: museum specimens (n=7). Only one kind of evidence was found, so it is listed as possibly present.

Sources

Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.