Turbinaria heronensis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Turbinaria heronensis | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Cnidaria |
| Subphylum: | Anthozoa |
| Class: | Hexacorallia |
| Order: | Scleractinia |
| Family: | Dendrophylliidae |
| Genus: | Turbinaria |
| Species: | T. heronensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Turbinaria heronensis Wells, 1958[2] | |
Turbinaria heronensis, commonly known as disc coral, is a species of colonial stony coral in the family Dendrophylliidae. It is native to the Indo-Pacific region where it occurs in shallow water in Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, the Philippines and Australia. It is a zooxanthellate coral that houses symbiont dinoflagellates in its tissues. It is an uncommon species and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has rated it as "vulnerable". It was described by Wells in 1958.
This colonial species reaches diameters of up to 50 centimetres (20 in) and its colonies frequently divide. The species is green, yellow or brown in colour and its corallites are tube-shaped and long.[3] This zooxanthellate stony coral houses symbiont dinoflagellates in its tissues.[1]