Sheet fire coral
Millepora platyphylla
Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 210730, checked 2026-10-31).
Possibly present in the Maldives
- English
- Sheet fire coral
- Scientific
- Millepora platyphylla
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Depth and habitat
- Reef-associated, recorded from 3 to 6 m
- IUCN status
- EN · EndangeredEndangered (EN), assessed 2022CITES Appendix II
- Record in the Maldives
- Possibly present
Description
A fire coral that forms solid, upright plates and walls, often joined into box-like or honeycomb clumps, with a smooth, mustard-yellow to brown surface. It grows on reef flats and upper slopes exposed to waves. Touching it causes a painful, burning sting. It is listed on CITES Appendix II.
In the Maldives
Recorded from the Maldives: museum specimens (n=2). Only one kind of evidence was found, so it is listed as possibly present. Fire corals are common on shallow Maldivian reefs, but most are identified only to genus; species-level Maldives records are museum specimens.
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Millepora-platyphylla.html
- marinespecies.org /aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=210730
- inaturalist.org /observations/90790427
Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.