Size: upto 25 cm.

 

Key Features: Pale brown or blue (which may photograph pink), with blue or white margins. Colonies are massive or are unifacial or bifacial thick plates which may be tiered in large colonies. Corallites are mostly immersed. The coenosteum is covered with papillae and/or tuberculae.

 

Diet: Plankton, Zooxanthellae / Light.

 

Habitat: This species occurs in shallow, tropical reef environments. It is found mostly on upper reef slopes, but also grows deeper. This species is found to at least 40 m.

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

References:

Montipora monasteriata. In Reeflex , the Marine Aquarium Encyclopedia. Retrieved on June 18, 2014 from http://www.reeflex.net/tiere/590_Montipora_monasteriata.htm

 

IUCN Red List. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/133525/0

 

Montipora monasteriata. In Australian Institute of Marine Science. Retrieved on June 18, 2014 from http://coral.aims.gov.au/factsheet.jsp?speciesCode=0264

 

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

 

Photo Courtesy

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