No photo available
Indo-pacific blue coral
Heliopora coerulea
Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 210725, checked 2026-10-31).
- English
- Indo-pacific blue coral
- Scientific
- Heliopora coerulea
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Depth and habitat
- Reef-associated, recorded from 0 to 3 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2023CITES Appendix II
Description
The blue coral: an octocoral, not a true stony coral, that builds a solid limestone skeleton. Its skeleton is blue inside, although the living colony looks brown or grey-blue on the outside. It forms upright plates, columns or branching masses on reef flats and upper slopes. It is one of only two living species in its family, and it is listed on CITES Appendix II.
In the Maldives
Recorded from the Maldives: museum specimens (n=14, QM, USNM); iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=18).
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Heliopora-coerulea.html
- marinespecies.org /aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=210725
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Heliopora_coerulea_Maldives.jpg
Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.