Millepora sp. indet.

Fassbender, Nico, Stefanoudis, Paris V, Filander, Zoleka Nontlantla, Gendron, Gilberte, Mah, Christopher L, Mattio, Lydiane, Mortimer, Jeanne A, Moura, Carlos J, Samaai, Toufiek, Samimi-Namin, Kaveh, Wagner, Daniel, Walton, Rowana & Woodall, Lucy C, 2021, Reef benthos of Seychelles - A field guide, Biodiversity Data Journal 9, pp. 65970-65970 : 65970

Millepora sp. indet.

Materials

Type status: Other material. Taxon: scientificName: Millepora sp.; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Cnidaria; class: Hydrozoa; order: Anthoathecata; family: Milleporidae; genus: Millepora; scientificNameAuthorship: Linnaeus, 1758; Location: waterBody: Indian Ocean; country: Seychelles; locality: Aldabra N 1, Aldabra W 1, Alphonse N 1, Astove W 1 Desroches S 1 ; minimumDepthInMeters: 8.8 m; maximumDepthInMeters: 32 m; locationRemarks: First Descent : Seychelles Expedition ; Identification : identifiedBy: Nico Fassbender , Carlos Moura , Paris Stefanoudis ; dateIdentified: 2019, 2020; identificationRemarks: identified only from imagery; Event : samplingProtocol: Submersible OR Remotely Operated Vehicle OR SCUBA; Record Level: basisOfRecord: Human observation

Notes

Colonies encrusting or branching, either thick and heavy with lobed projections or cylindrical branches. Bumpy texture with almost no gaps between bumps, but smooth surface. Generally following the substrate, colonies can appear massive or look like large plates. Colouration pale brown to yellow or whitish. Branched colonies normally have pale to whitish tips. Maximum recorded size: 1 m across. In general, Millepora has a very smooth surface when compared to scleractinian corals. Encrusting colonies look similar to some species of Sinularia ; however, the latter has wider ridges between bumps. Millepora is commonly known as fire coral. However, it was not possible to distinguish between distinct species from underwater images alone (Fig. 108).