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Porites lutea

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Colony and close-up, Guam	59KB
Image:	Colony, Guam	59KB
Image:	Colony, Guam	107KB
Image:	Colony, Guam	73KB
Image:	Colony, Palau	40KB
Video:	General overview (© Karl Traylor)	363KB

General Information

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.Africa - Tuamotu

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; Marine, near-shore

KEY FEATURES: Gp.8 Massive coral, often forming micro-atolls in moats. This species differs by having shallow calices (0.8-1.2mm diameter), thin septa, and tall pali sometimes reaching the height of the thin walls. Porites "general" has closely-spaced ±polygonal calices, 0.7-1.5mm diameter, with conspicuous porous walls of rods and flakes, 12 porous lattice-like septa, some septa having an inner-spine (=pali), and the columella is pinnacle-like.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Indistinguishable from other massive Porites, especially Porites australiensis, except by expert comparative studies.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

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

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

Porites lutea (Milne Edwards & Haime, 1860)
SYNONYMS: Porites (Porites) lutea

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

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Cooks: specimens, G.McCormack (1980s?), NHP#GM046 - 047.

References:
Special Reference: x

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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