No photo available
Cockscomb oyster
Lopha cristagalli
Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 216638, checked 2026-10-31).
- English
- Cockscomb oyster
- Scientific
- Lopha cristagalli
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Family
- Ostreidae (oysters)
- Maximum size
- Up to about 20.5 cm (shell length)
- Depth and habitat
- Sea floor (benthic), recorded from 5 to 30 m
- IUCN status
- NE · Not EvaluatedNot Evaluated (NE)
Description
The cockscomb oyster has a shell with a sharp zigzag edge, like a rooster's comb, usually purple to reddish beneath a growth of sponges and algae. It attaches to reef walls and dead coral.
In the Maldives
Recorded from the Maldives: museum specimens (n=1); iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=7, 5 observers).
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Lopha-cristagalli.html
- marinespecies.org /aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=216638
- inaturalist.org /taxa/474695
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Antennarius_pictus_on_Lopha_cristagalli_(26661714631).jpg
Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.