Maldives Marine Life

Marine life of Maldivian waters

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Porcelain coral
No photo available
Photo: quokka2 / iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0 (view on iNaturalist)iNaturalist research-grade observation. Coral photo: species not verifiable from image.

Porcelain coral

Leptoseris explanata

Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 207289, checked 2026-10-31).

English
Porcelain coral
Scientific
Leptoseris explanata
Dhivehi
No recorded Dhivehi name
Group
Hard corals
Family
Agariciidae (lettuce and cactus 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 thin, plate-like coral that forms flat or gently cupped sheets with small cups scattered over the upper surface. Colonies are usually brown or grey and grow on deeper slopes and walls, often in shade. Like other Leptoseris, it can live in dim light at depth.

In the Maldives

Recorded from the Maldives: museum specimens (n=1); iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=3); literature records via OBIS (Hexacorallians of the World (Fautin 2013)); SeaLifeBase Maldives checklist.

Sources

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