Colours

Distinguishing features

A species that forms massive colonies up to 1m diameter. Corallites are plocoid and large, with dark oral disks, while colony colour is usually pale cream or yellow.

Size

Synonyms

Distribution

Distribution and habitat preferences

Reef fronts, shallow reef flats.

Can be found in most habitats around Lizard Island, and is the dominant favid in many reef front locations.

Behaviour

Dipsastraea pallida is a hermaphroditic broadcast spawner. Larvae are released without symbiotic zooxanthellae, but acquire these from seawater at about the 6th day after spawning. Larval duration is generally short, with 50% larval mortality after 19 days in tank experiments, however some larvae survived to 190 days, indicating the possibility of long distance dispersal in this species.

Web resources

References