''Pocillopora damicornis'', commonly known as the cauliflower coral or lace coral, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

stony coral Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc in which a ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Pocilloporidae The Pocilloporidae are a family of stony corals in the order Scleractinia occurring in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Description Pocilloporids are colonial and most species are reef-building. They are very variable in size and shape, some being ...

. It is native to tropical and subtropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Description

''P. damicornis'' is a

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

coral and can grow into clumps up to high. It is distinguishable from other members of the genus by the verrucae (wart-like growths) on its surface being more irregularly arranged. It is more branched than the otherwise similar '' P. verrucosa''. Its form varies according to its habitat and is more open and branched in calm positions and more compact on the upper parts of reefs where water movement is greater. Its colour varies and may be greenish, pink, yellowish-brown or pale brown.

Distribution and habitat

Cauliflower coral is native to the tropical and subtropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Its wide range extends from East Africa and the Red Sea to Japan, Indonesia, Australia, Hawaii, Easter Island, and the western coast of Central America. It is found at depths to about , but is most common between , often forming dense patches. It is equally found on reef slopes and in lagoons, among

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

s and on wharves, but not in areas with strong water movement. With such a wide range, it is one of the most abundant of corals.

Biology

''P. damicornis'' is a reef-building coral, grows fast, and is a strong competitor. The polyps extend their tentacles at night to feed on

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...

. When colonies are broken apart, chunks can become lodged on the seabed and grow into new individuals, a form of

asexual reproduction Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that does not involve the fusion of gametes or change in the number of chromosomes. The offspring that arise by asexual reproduction from either unicellular or multicellular organisms inherit the fu ...

by fragmentation. This coral also reproduces by sexual means. It is a simultaneous

hermaphrodite In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...

, and eggs and sperm are retained inside the coral and batches of

planula A planula is the free-swimming, flattened, ciliated, bilaterally symmetric larval form of various cnidarian species and also in some species of Ctenophores. Some groups of Nemerteans also produce larvae that are very similar to the planula, which ...

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e are released into the sea around the time of the new moon. These have a lipid-rich yolk and great dispersal abilities, as they remain viable for as much as 100 days. Although brooding of larvae occurs over most of its range, in Western Australia ''P. damicornis'' both broods planular larvae and releases gametes by broadcast

spawning Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquati ...

, while in the Eastern Pacific, only broadcast spawning takes place. Cauliflower coral contains microscopic

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 ...

dinoflagellate The dinoflagellates (Greek δῖνος ''dinos'' "whirling" and Latin ''flagellum'' "whip, scourge") are a monophyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes constituting the phylum Dinoflagellata and are usually considered algae. Dinoflagellates are ...

algae (

zooxanthellae Zooxanthellae is a colloquial term for single-celled dinoflagellates that are able to live in symbiosis with diverse marine invertebrates including demosponges, corals, jellyfish, and nudibranchs. Most known zooxanthellae are in the genus ''Sy ...

) living within its tissues. Through

photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored i ...

, these algae produce energy-rich molecules the coral can assimilate. The density of the dinoflagellates varies depending on seasonal changes in water temperature, light levels, and dissolved nitrate concentration. It is a dynamic process and in extreme environmental conditions results in the complete expulsion of the algae and the

bleaching Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color (whitening) from a fabric or fiber or to clean or to remove stains in a process called bleaching. It often refers specifically, to ...

of the coral. However, compared to other corals, this species is resistant to bleaching. Based on the GeoSymbio Database, Pocillopora damicornis has been known to interact with 30 species (or subclade types) of Symbiodinium, the highest interaction rate of any known coral species along with ''Stylophora pistillata'' Franklin EC, Stat M, Pochon X, Putnam HM, Gates RD (2012) GeoSymbio: a hybrid, cloud-based web application of global geospatial bioinformatics and ecoinformatics forSymbiodinium–host symbioses. Molecular Ecology Resources 12:369-373. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2011.03081.x. https://sites.google.com/site/geosymbio/database

Status

In general, coral reefs around the world are being destroyed and although this coral is common and relatively resilient, populations likely are in decline along with their habitat. This coral is collected for the aquarium trade and in some regions, it is mined for conversion into cement. The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has listed it as being of "

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

", as it considers the rate of decline in its populations is not sufficient to justify listing it in a more threatened category. Like all corals, it is listed on

CITES Appendix II CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3942169 Pocilloporidae Corals described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus