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Montastrea curta

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Coral colony & skeleton detail, Rarotonga	56KB
Image:	Surface detail & 'skeleton' detail (b&w illustration)	33KB
Image:	Colony, Rarotonga	47KB
Image:	Colony, Palmerston	32KB
Image:	Colony, Guam	89KB
Image:	Colony, Guam	80KB
Image:	Colony, Guam	71KB

General Information

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.Africa - Tuamotu

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; S.Group; ? N.Group; Marine, near-shore, outer reef-slope, reef-flat, moat, reef-flat lagoon

KEY FEATURES: Hemispherical or flat, sometimes encrusting. Corallites have own walls. Calices 2.5-7.5mmØ, exsert, circular. Septa exsert, 2-3 cycles. Costae dentate, separate from adjacent costae. Theca thick. Coenosteum smooth, rods projecting through skeleton. Reproduction extratentacular.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Favia stelligera has shallow, circular corallites (vs larger, deep, exsert, circular corallites of Montastrea curta).

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

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

Montastrea curta (Dana, 1846)
TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; CNIDARIA (=Coelenterates); ANTHOZOA; ZOANTHARIA (=Hexacorallia); Scleractinia (=Madreporaria); FAVIIDAE

More Information

IDENTIFICATION: COLONY usually hemispherical or flat, sometimes encrusting. CORALLITES have own walls (plocoid). CALICES, 2.5-7.5mmØ, exsert & circular. SEPTA thin, in 2-3 cycles, strongly exsert, margins dentate (rod-like). COSTAE not fused with adjacent costae, dentate (lobe-like). THECA thick. COENOSTEUM visible where corallites are widely spaced, smooth but in places, rods project vertically through the skeleton. REPRODUCTION extratentacular. Uniformly brown with pale lines on top of septa. A small hemispherical colony with protruding, round, closely-spaced corallites, with strongly exert septa. Costae do not fuse with costae of adjacent corallites, and more open coenosteum smooth and rolling with a few upright spiny spines

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: specimen+photo, Muri lagoon, S.Miller (2001) ID per Veron (AIMS Mono Series), NHP#SM043; CK- specimens, G.McCormack (1980s?), NHP#GM085 - 086.

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 137-139.

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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