''Turbinaria conspicua'', commonly known as Disc 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 ...

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 ...

a stony coral in the

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

Dendrophylliidae Dendrophylliidae is a family of stony corals. Most (but not all) members are azooxanthellate and thus have to capture food with their tentacles instead of relying on photosynthesis to produce their food. The World Register of Marine Species incl ...

. Found abundant in the eastern Indian Ocean and the western Pacific region, including Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and northern Australia. It is a

zooxanthella 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 '' Sym ...

a coral that houses

symbiont 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 parasi ...

dinoflagellates in its tissues. It was studied by Bernard in 1896 and he rated it as a

least concern species 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 ...

by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature 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 nat ...

(IUCN).

Description

It is a colonial stony coral where its colonies contain bifacial fronds in small diameters. Immersed in them are small corallites and its colour is commonly cream or pale brown. It is a

te rare coral that houses

dinoflagellates in its tissues.

Distribution and conservation

Actual population of the species is unknown but are considered to be decreasing, this is likely due to the rapid global reduction of coral reefs, the increase of temperature causing coral bleaching, climate change, human activity, parasites and diseases. It is found in the eastern Indian Ocean and western central Pacific Ocean, in the countries of Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. It is found at depths of between in shallow reefs. The IUCN has rated the conservation status of this species 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 ...

". It is an uncommon species, but the areas in which it is found in northern Australia have been less affected by the damage to the reefs compared to other regions. ''T. conspicua'' is listed under CITES Appendix II.

Taxonomy

The disc coral was described as ''Turbinaria conspicua'' by H. Bernard in 1896.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3934648 Dendrophylliidae Corals described in 1896