Size: upto 30 cm.

 

Key Features:  Usually pale brown or pink but may be dark brown in deep or turbid water. Colonies are submassive or encrusting. Corallites are cerioid to submeandroid. The latter usually have less than four centres. Walls are thick, paliform lobes are well developed.

 

Diet: Plankton, Zooxanthellae / Light

 

Habitat: This species occurs in shallow and deeper, tropical reef environments. It is found in most shallow water environments. G. pectinata is commonly found from 1-15 m, with mass colonies at 1-2 m, in the South China Sea and Gulf of Siam. This species is found on subtidal rock and rocky reefs, in the outer reef channel, on the back and foreslope, and in lagoons. It may also be found on inter-reef rubble substrate. This species is found to 40 m. Goniastrea species are usually hardy corals often found on back reef areas. Many of the colonies are small or medium in size, but others grow to a meter or more in diameter.

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

References:

IUCN Red List. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/133414/0

 

Goniastrea pectinata. In Australian Institute of Marine Science. Retrieved on June 18, 2014 from http://coral.aims.gov.au/factsheet.jsp?speciesCode=0192

 

Goniastrea pectinata. In Reeflex , the Marine Aquarium Encyclopedia. Retrieved on June 18, 2014 from http://www.reeflex.net/tiere/2346_Goniastrea_pectinata.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