Cauliflower coral
Pocillopora meandrina
Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 206964, checked 2026-10-31).
- English
- Cauliflower coral
- Scientific
- Pocillopora meandrina
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Hard corals
- Depth and habitat
- Reef-associated, recorded from 0 to 98 m
- IUCN status
- EN · EndangeredEndangered (EN), assessed 2023CITES Appendix II
Description
A cauliflower coral: a compact, rounded Pocillopora with short, flattened branches whose tips curve outward, covered in wart-like lumps. Colonies are usually cream, brown or pinkish and grow on wave-exposed reef crests and upper slopes. Coral crabs and shrimps often live among the branches.
In the Maldives
Recorded from the Maldives: iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=23); literature records via OBIS (Hexacorallians of the World (Fautin 2013), 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-meandrina.html
- marinespecies.org /aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=206964
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Pocillopora_meandrina_with_a_resident_fish.jpg
Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.