Size: upto 25 cm.

 

Key Features: Usually uniform or mottled grey, brown or cream. Colonies are massive to columnar with a smooth or hillocky surface. Corallites are rounded and equal in size. Costae do not alternate strongly. There are 12 primary septa.

 

Diet: phytoplankton, Plankton, zooplankton, Zooxanthellae / Light

 

Habitat: This species occurs in all tropical reef environments. It is commonly found from 3-11 m, rarely 1-2 m and 12-15 m, in the South China Sea and Gulf of Siam. It is very common on shallow reef flats in highly fluctuating environments, and is resistant to warming and high salinity. This species is found on subtidal rock and rocky reefs, in the outer reef channel, on the back and foreslopes of reefs, in lagoons and in inter-reef soft and rubble substrate. This species is found to at least 50 m.

 

Conservation status: Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

 

 

 

 

 

References:

IUCN Red List. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/133167/0

 

Cyphastrea serailia. In Australian Institute of Marine Science. Retrieved on June 18, 2014 from http://coral.aims.gov.au/factsheet.jsp?speciesCode=0131

 

Cyphastrea serailia. In Reeflex , the Marine Aquarium Encyclopedia. Retrieved on June 18, 2014 from http://www.reeflex.net/tiere/3896_Cyphastrea_serailia.htm

 

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Project, Second Interim Progress Report, GEER Foundation, June 2012

 

 

Photo Courtesy

Charlie Veron. Australian Institute of Marine  Science. Licensed under CC BY-NC 3.0 via Creative Commons