Antler coral
Pocillopora grandis
Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 206952, checked 2026-10-31).
- English
- Antler coral
- Scientific
- Pocillopora grandis
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Hard corals
- Depth and habitat
- Reef-associated, recorded from 0 to 4800 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2023CITES Appendix II
Description
An antler coral: a large Pocillopora with thick, flattened, antler-like branches and blunt tips, covered in wart-like lumps. Colonies are usually brown, cream or pinkish and grow on wave-exposed upper reef slopes and reef edges. It includes colonies formerly called Pocillopora eydouxi.
In the Maldives
Recorded from the Maldives: iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=4); literature records via OBIS (Hexacorallians of the World (Fautin 2013), IndOBIS); SeaLifeBase Maldives checklist. 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-grandis.html
- marinespecies.org /aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=206952
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Antler_coral_(Pocillopora_grandis)_with_blue_damselfish_(Po
Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.