species: Goniopora lobata in Lizard Island Field Guide (Lizard Island Field Guide)
Goniopora lobata


©Anne Hoggett: Typical lobed colony of Goniopora lobata at lagoon bommie, Lizard Island.

©Anne Hoggett: Lobed columns of Goniopora lobata at lagoon bommie, Lizard Island.

©Anne Hoggett: Goniopora lobata from lagoon bommie, Lizard Island. Note small white oral cones and short tentacles with rounded tips. Identified by Grace Frank, who notes: "This one doesn't have pointed tips like G. minor. Polyps don't have large oral cones, ruling out G. columna. They are quite short, rounded and with a small white oral disc."
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Cnidaria
Class Hexacorallia
Order Scleractinia
Family Poritidae
Genus Goniopora
Species Goniopora lobata
Status near threatened

Colours

         

Distinguishing features

Goniopora lobata forms "lobes" on short, thick columns, or occasionally hemispherical colonies; corallites are large (> 5 mm diameter), oral cones are small, and the 24 tentacles are short with rounded tips; oral cones and tentacle tips are often of a different colour than the rest of the polyp (Veron, 2000).

Size

  • Size data has not been obtained.

Synonyms

Distribution


©Atlas of Living Australia: Australian distribution

Web resources

References

References that assist with identification

  • Veron, J.E.N. (2000). Corals of the World: Volume 3 Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville.

Other references

  • Babcock, R.C., G.D. Bull, P.L. Harrison, A.J. Heyward, J.K. Oliver, C.C. Wallace and B.L. Willis (1986). Synchronous spawnings of 105 scleractinian coral species on the Great Barrier Reef, Marine Biology, 90: 379-394. LIRS catalog number 300.
  • Paula, J.R., D. Sun, V. Pissarra, P. Narvaez, R. Rosa, A.S. Grutter and P.C. Sikkel (2021). The role of corals on the abundance of a fish ectoparasite in the Great Barrier Reef. Coral Reefs, 40: 535-542. LIRS catalog number 2475.
  • View all references