''Montipora capitata'', commonly known as rice coral or pore coral, is a stony coral in the family Acroporidae. It is a reef building species and is found in tropical parts of the Pacific Ocean.

Description

''Montipora capitata'' is an encrusting,

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coral which develops arborescent forms as it matures. The

corallite A corallite is the skeletal cup, formed by an individual stony coral polyp, in which the polyp sits and into which it can retract. The cup is composed of aragonite, a crystalline form of calcium carbonate, and is secreted by the polyp. Corallit ...

s are tiny and well separated b
coenosteum
Their walls and the septa are indistinct. The skeleton is porous and there are small smooth surface projections known as verrucae which give the coral its common name of rice coral. These are irregularly spaced and may be fused near the tips of branches. The colour is normally pale brown with white verrucae.Family Acroporidae: ''Montipora''
Retrieved 2011-12-21.

Distribution

''Montipora capitata'' is found in the tropical north and central Pacific Ocean at depths down to . It is common in the waters around Hawaii especially where the sea is turbulent.

Ecology

The

crown-of-thorns starfish The crown-of-thorns starfish (frequently abbreviated to COTS), ''Acanthaster planci'', is a large starfish that preys upon hard, or stony, coral polyps (Scleractinia). The crown-of-thorns starfish receives its name from venomous thorn-like spine ...

(Acanthaster planci), seems to preferentially feed on corals of the genus

Montipora ''Montipora'' is a genus of Scleractinian corals in the phylum Cnidaria. Members of the genus ''Montipora'' may exhibit many different growth morphologies. With eighty five known species, ''Montipora'' is the second most species rich coral genus ...

. It is a voracious predator and can have devastating effects on slow growing corals.

Threats

Like other reef corals, ''Montipora capitata'' is threatened by habitat destruction. Rising sea temperatures can cause "bleaching" because the

symbiotic Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...

zooxanthellae are expelled from the coral's tissues, leaving the coral colorless. The bleaching event results in very high coral mortality soon after. Stressed corals are more susceptible to disease. Other threats are posed by El Nino events, ocean acidification which tends to dissolve the coral skeleton, trawling and other fishing activities, pollution and sedimentation.

References

Acroporidae Cnidarians of the Pacific Ocean Marine fauna of Oceania Corals described in 1846 {{scleractinia-stub