Porites
Sign in to saveAlso known as Stony corals
thumb|In intertidal reef-flat environments, massive Porites form characteristic microatoll formations, with living tissues around the perimeter, and dead skeleton on the exposed upper surface. Microatoll growth is predominantly lateral, as vertical growth is limited by a lack of accommodation space. thumb|right|Small colony of Porites porites
Species
finger coral
GENUS
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumCnidaria
- ClassAnthozoa
- OrderScleractinia
- FamilyPoritidae
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 3,929
- With media
- 63
- Family
- Poritidae
- Collections
- NHMUK, MHN-UABCS
- Recorded in
- Venezuela, Mexico, Indonesia
Wikidata facts
Show 5 more facts
- Commons category
- Porites
- taxon rank
- genus
- taxon name
- Porites
- topic's main category
- Category:Porites
- taxon common name
- Stony corals
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~7 min read
Encyclopedic overview
7 sectionsContents
- Aquarium trade
- Paleoclimatology
- Ecology and biogeography
- Physiology
- Threats
- Species
- References
thumb|In intertidal reef-flat environments, massive Porites form characteristic microatoll formations, with living tissues around the perimeter, and dead skeleton on the exposed upper surface. Microatoll growth is predominantly lateral, as vertical growth is limited by a lack of accommodation space. thumb|right|Small colony of Porites porites
Porites is a genus of stony coral; they are small polyp stony (SPS) corals. (Also referred to as finger coral or hump coral) They are characterised by a finger-like morphology. Members of this genus have widely spaced calices, a well-developed wall reticulum and are bilaterally symmetrical. Porites, particularly Porites lutea, often form microatolls. Corals of the genus Porites also often serve as hosts for Christmas tree worms (Spirobranchus giganteus).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Porites” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.