No photo available
Fungus coral
Pavona varians
Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 207303, checked 2026-10-31).
- English
- Fungus coral
- Scientific
- Pavona varians
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Hard corals
- Depth and habitat
- Reef-associated, recorded from 3 to 80 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2023CITES Appendix II
Description
A corrugated coral: an encrusting or low, lumpy coral whose surface is broken into short, irregular, winding ridges and valleys with small cups between them. Colonies are usually brown, grey, green or cream and grow on reef flats and slopes. It is one of the commonest Pavona on Indian Ocean reefs.
In the Maldives
Recorded from the Maldives: museum specimens (n=4); iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=15); literature records via OBIS (Hexacorallians of the World (Fautin 2013), IndOBIS); SeaLifeBase Maldives checklist.
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Pavona-varians.html
- marinespecies.org /aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=207303
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Pavona_varians.jpg
Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.