Pocillopora coral (no English common name)
Pocillopora acuta
Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 759099, checked 2026-10-31).
- English
- Pocillopora coral (no English common name)
- Scientific
- Pocillopora acuta
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Hard corals
- Depth and habitat
- Sea floor (benthic)
- IUCN status
- EN · EndangeredEndangered (EN), assessed 2023CITES Appendix II
Description
A bushy Pocillopora with thin, irregular branches that taper towards the tips, covered in small wart-like lumps. Colonies are usually brown, cream or pinkish and grow in shallow lagoons and on reef flats. It is one of the first corals to recover on damaged reefs. It is easily confused with Pocillopora damicornis.
In the Maldives
Recorded from the Maldives: iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=3); literature records via OBIS (IndOBIS). Branching and table corals of this kind were among the worst hit by the 1998 and 2016 mass bleaching events in the Maldives.
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Pocillopora-acuta.html
- marinespecies.org /aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=759099
- inaturalist.org /observations/189947206
Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.