Pavona (genus)

Pavona
Potato chip coral (Pavona cactus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Anthozoa
Order: Scleractinia
Family: Agariciidae
Genus: Pavona
Lamarck, 1801[1]
Species
See text

Pavona is a genus of colonial stony corals in the family Agariciidae. These corals are found in shallow waters in the Indo-Pacific region.

Characteristics

Corals in this genus have a range of different forms including those that are massive, meandering, columnar, leaf-like, and plate-like. A single species may vary in form according to the current, wave action, lighting conditions, and depth of its location. Members of the genus are distinguished from other corals by having no walls to the corallites, but having clearly delineated septocostae that connect each corallite to its neighbours, giving a flower-like pattern on the surface of the coral. The corallites themselves are shallow depressions with central columella and may be separated by ridges. The polyps, with the exception of Pavona explanulata, are only extended at night. The foliose and plate-like forms tend to be two-sided.[1][2]

Species

The World Register of Marine Species recognises these species: [1]

  • Pavona bipartita Nemenzo, 1980
  • Pavona cactus (Forskål, 1775)
  • Pavona chiriquiensis Glynn, Mate & Stemann, 2001
  • Pavona clavus (Dana, 1846)
  • Pavona clivosa Verrill
  • Pavona danai Milne Edwards, 1860
  • Pavona decussata (Dana, 1846)
  • Pavona diffluens (Lamarck, 1816)
  • Pavona dilatata Nemenzo & Montecillo, 1985
  • Pavona diminuta Veron, 1990
  • Pavona distincta Latypov, 2011
  • Pavona divaricata Lamarck, 1816

  • Pavona duerdeni Scheer & Pillai, 1974
  • Pavona explanulata (Lamarck, 1816)
  • Pavona frondifera (Lamarck, 1816)
  • Pavona frondifera Lamarck, 1816
  • Pavona gigantea Verrill, 1869
  • Pavona maldivensis (Gardiner, 1905)
  • Pavona minor Brüggemann
  • Pavona minuta Wells, 1954
  • Pavona varians Verrill, 1864
  • Pavona venosa (Ehrenberg, 1834)
  • Pavona xarifae Scheer & Pillai, 1974



References

  1. 1 2 3 Martinez, Olga (2012). "Pavona Lamarck, 1801". World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2013-01-23.
  2. "Pavona". Coral Hub. CICBP. Retrieved 2013-01-23.
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