Maldives Marine Life

Marine life of Maldivian waters

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Broccoli soft corals
No photo available
Photo: Alexander Vasenin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (view on Wikimedia Commons)Coral photo: species not verifiable from image.

Broccoli soft corals

Litophyton

Genus-level entry: species are told apart only by microscopic features (sclerites). Valid genus (WoRMS, AphiaID 204523, checked 2026-10-31). Species recorded from the Maldives: Litophyton maldivensis.

English
Broccoli soft corals
Scientific
Litophyton
Dhivehi
No recorded Dhivehi name
Group
Soft corals and sea fans
Family
Nephtheidae (tree and broccoli corals)
IUCN status
NE · Not EvaluatedNot Evaluated (NE) as a genus; most species not assessed

Description

Broccoli soft corals are soft, tree-like soft corals with branching stems and clusters of polyps at the tips. Colonies are usually brown, cream, grey or greenish. They grow on reef flats, lagoons and shallow slopes. Species are told apart only by examining their microscopic sclerites.

In the Maldives

Recorded from the Maldives: museum specimens (n=7); literature records via OBIS.

Sources

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