No photo available
Serpent coral
Pachyseris speciosa
Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 207293, checked 2026-10-31).
- English
- Serpent coral
- Scientific
- Pachyseris speciosa
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Hard corals
- Depth and habitat
- Reef-associated, recorded from 4 to 35 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2023CITES Appendix II
Description
A serpent coral that forms thin, wide, horizontal plates, often in overlapping tiers. The upper surface is marked with fine, concentric ridges running parallel to the edge, like a fingerprint. Colonies are usually brown or grey and grow on reef slopes and walls, often in deeper or shaded water.
In the Maldives
Recorded from the Maldives: museum specimens (n=1); iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=12); literature records via OBIS (Hexacorallians of the World (Fautin 2013), IndOBIS); SeaLifeBase Maldives checklist.
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Pachyseris-speciosa.html
- marinespecies.org /aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=207293
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Coral_(Pachyseris_speciosa),_Anilao,_Filipinas,_2023-08-22,
Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.