Rasp coral
Pocillopora verrucosa
Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 206954, checked 2026-10-31).
- English
- Rasp coral
- Scientific
- Pocillopora verrucosa
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Hard corals
- Depth and habitat
- Reef-associated, recorded from 0 to 54 m
- IUCN status
- EN · EndangeredEndangered (EN), assessed 2023CITES Appendix II
Description
A cauliflower coral: a rounded Pocillopora with upright, thick branches covered in large wart-like lumps. Colonies are usually cream, pink or brown and grow on reef flats and upper slopes. It is one of the commonest Pocillopora in the Maldives and an important home for coral guard crabs and small fish.
In the Maldives
Recorded from the Maldives: museum specimens (n=6, QM); iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=34); 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-verrucosa.html
- marinespecies.org /aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=206954
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Pocillopora_verrucosa_Réunion.jpg
Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.