Pavona, Lamarck, 1801

Salimi, Parisa Alidoost, Mostafavi, Pargol Ghavam, Chen, Chaolun Allen, Fatemi, Seyed Mohammad Reza & Pichon, Michel, 2018, Microphysogobio bicolor, Zoological Studies 57 (56), pp. 1-34 : 5-7

Pavona cactus ( Forskål, 1775)

( Fig. 5 )

Synonym: Madrepora cactus Forskål, 1775; Pavona praetorta Dana, 1846; Pavona formosa Dana, 1846; Pavona venusta Dana, 1846; Lophoseris knorri Milne Edwards & Haime, 1851.

Material examined: Sirri Island ( ZUTC 6587).

Description: The color is pale light brown. Margins paler in color than the sides. Colony is typically frondose, fronds thin, bifacial and anastomosing. Free upper margin, either straight or contorted. Corallites arrangement is thamnasterioid and formation by extratentacular budding. Septa are in 2 alternating orders, Primary septa slightly exert and reaching/fusing to the columella. Secondary septa less exert and short. Septocostae is well developed, regular straight rows between corallite centers. Columella is rod-like (styliform). Coenosteum reticulated.

Remarks: This species has much thinner fronds than P. dacussata. There is a similarity between P. cactus and P. frondifera, but striking difference in their colony shapes. Plates usually have radiating ridges which intergrade with fronds in P. frondifera.

Distribution: Common in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Indo-Pacific.

Figures

Fig. 5. (a-b) Pavona cactus from Sirri Islands; (c-d) close-up of corallites. Scale bar = 1 mm.