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Leptastrea purpurea

Crust Coral

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Coral colony (corallith), corallite detail & calices of larger colony	59KB
Image:	Skeleton (corallith) showing corallite detail	42KB
Image:	Colony, Guam	58KB
Image:	Colony, Guam	48KB
Image:	Colony, Guam	55KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Crust Coral

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.Africa - French Polynesia - Hawai‘i

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; S.Group - v.common; Marine, near-shore, reef-flat, moat, outer reef-slope, reef-flat lagoon; stagnant waters to fore-reef surge channels

KEY FEATURES: Small, hemispherical, less than 5cmØ, beige with brown calices. Calices small & thick walled. Septa lightly granulated & in 4 cycles.

SIMILAR SPECIES: In Leptastrea transversa cf. GP1, the columella is reduced and plate-like (vs a columella comprised of a few pinnacles inter-mixed with paliform lobes in Leptastrea purpurea).

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
+++	P		P?	P	P?

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Leptastrea purpurea (Dana, 1846)
SYNONYMS: [Leptastrea sp.3 in Paulay Thesis is also included.]

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; CNIDARIA (=Coelenterates); ANTHOZOA; ZOANTHARIA (=Hexacorallia); Scleractinia (=Madreporaria); FAVIIDAE

More Information

IDENTIFICATION: COLONY variable, but typically small & hemispherical, less than 5cmØ. Beige with brown calices. CORALLITES 2-11mmØ, thick-walled. SEPTA in 4 distinct cycles & lightly granulated. 1st order septa descend rapidly to columella. COLUMELLA a mix of pinnacles & paliform lobes. COENOSTEUM often smooth and sometimes over-shadowed by exsert septa. REPRODUCTION extra-tentacular.

GENERAL NOTE: Possibly an undescribed species (Paulay 1988)

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: specimens+photo, Muri lagoon, S.Miller (2001) ID per Veron (AIMS Mono Series), NHP#SM040 - 041; CK- specimens, G.McCormack (1980s?), GM076 - 080.

References:
Special Reference: Veron, J.E.N., Pichon, M. & Wijsman-Best, M. (1977). Scleractinia of Eastern Australia. Part II Families Faviidae, Trachypyhlliidae. Australian Institute of Marine Science Monograph Series 3. p 158-161.

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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