Montastraea cavernosa, Great star coral

Montastraea cavernosa   (Linnaeus, 1766)

Great star coral

Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
This map was computer-generated and has not yet been reviewed.
Montastraea cavernosa  AquaMaps  Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Montastraea cavernosa

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | CoL | ITIS | WoRMS

Hexacorallia | Scleractinia | Faviidae

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Reef-associated; depth range 1 - 113 m (Ref. 127877).  Tropical; 33°N - 25°S, 98°W - 10°E (Ref. 848)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Atlantic Ocean: Bermuda to Brazil and Mexico to Gabon.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm

Short description Morphology

Colonies are massive, forming boulders or domes, or are flat plates. Corallites are variable but are usually conical and exsert. Long and short septa strongly alternate, with alternate septa joined to the columella. Commonly green, brown, grey, or orange.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Zooxanthellate (Refs. 116012, 121684). Found on rocky reef, in shallow to mesophotic waters (Ref. 121684). Common throughout the Caribbean to a depth of 70 m (Ref. 415). In Belize, it was found in a submarine cave near Columbus Cay at a depth of 10 m (Ref. 87209).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Mature gametes are shed into the coelenteron and spawned through the mouth. Life cycle: The zygote develops into a planktonic planula larva. Metamorphosis begins with early morphogenesis of tentacles, septa and pharynx before larval settlement on the aboral end (Ref. 833).

Main reference References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Collin, R., M.C. Díaz, J. Norenburg, R.M. Rocha, J.A. Sánchez, M. Schulze, A. Schwartz and A. Valdés. 2005. (Ref. 415)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-2)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 01 June 2021

CITES status (Ref. 108899)

Appendix II: International trade monitored

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Human uses


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Trophic Ecology
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Predators
Ecology
Ecology
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Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
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Abundance
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Maturity
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Spawning
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Introductions
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Human Related
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Taxonomy
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References
References

Internet sources

BHL | BOLD Systems | CISTI | DiscoverLife | FAO(Publication : search) | Fishipedia | GenBank (genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | Gomexsi | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | PubMed | Tree of Life | Wikipedia (Go, Search) | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 5.8 - 16.9, mean 10 (based on 269 cells).
Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.

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