No photo available
Encrusting horn coral
Hydnophora exesa
Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 207403, checked 2026-10-31).
- English
- Encrusting horn coral
- Scientific
- Hydnophora exesa
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Hard corals
- Depth and habitat
- Reef-associated, recorded from 0 to 40 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2023CITES Appendix II
Description
A horn coral whose surface is covered in small, cone-shaped bumps (hydnophores) formed by the walls between the cups. Colonies are encrusting, massive or partly branching and are usually brown, green or cream. It grows on reef slopes and in lagoons.
In the Maldives
Recorded from the Maldives: museum specimens (n=6); iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=5); literature records via OBIS (Hexacorallians of the World (Fautin 2013), IndOBIS).
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Hydnophora-exesa.html
- marinespecies.org /aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=207403
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Hydnophora_exesa,_Lizard.jpeg
Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.