Distinguishing features
A species that forms smooth massive domes up to 5m diameter. Corallites are plocoid, large, conical, thick-walled and conspicuous. Colonies are brown with paler corallite openings.
Size
- Size data has not been obtained.
Synonyms
Interesting facts
- This coral is considered a living fossil. It is a species that existed 55 million years ago before North and South America joined to separate the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Distribution
©Atlas of Living Australia: Australian distribution
Distribution and habitat preferences
Reef fronts, exposed back reef areas.
Local abundance
- Lizard Island: Can be found in most habitats around Lizard Island.
Behaviour
Diploastrea is a monospecific genus, and D. heliopora has a widespread Indo-Pacific distribution. Polyps are extended only at night, and are aggressive, hence this species usually shows little bioerosion or competion from other corals.
Colonies may reach a large size and live for several centuries, hence this species has been used to reconstruct paleoclimates and assess the effects of Crown of Thorns Starfish outbreaks.
Diploastrea heliopora is a broadcast spawning hermaphrodite, however individual polyps are either male or female.
Web resources
References
- Baird, A.H., J.R. Guest and B.L. Willis (2009). Systematic and biogeographical patterns in the reproductive biology of scleractinian corals, Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 40: 551-571.
- Baird, A.H. and P.A. Marshall (2000). Bleaching of corals on the Great Barrier Reef: differential susceptibilities among taxa, Coral Reefs, 19: 155-163.
- Cameron, A.M., R. Endean and L. M. DeVantier (1991). The effects of Acanthaster planci predation on populations of two species of massive coral, Hydrobiologia, 216/217: 257-262.
- View all references