Colours
Distinguishing features
A species that forms massive colonies up to 2m diameter. Corallite valleys are meandroid and sinuous. Septa are unevenly sized and appear ragged. Colours are brown walls with whitish or green valleys. (Contributed by Andy Lewis)
Massive, meandroid, quite thick walls with exert septa on top of wall, 2-tone colouration. (Contributed by Zoe Richards)
Size
- Size data has not been obtained.
Synonyms
Similar taxa
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Animalia:
species: Platygyra sinensis
has less ragged septa than Platygyra daedalea
Distribution
©Atlas of Living Australia: Australian distribution
Distribution and habitat preferences
Reef fronts, shallow reef flats.
Can be found in most habitats around Lizard Island.
Behaviour
P. daedalea is a hermaphroditic broadcast spawner. This species is slow growing like most massive Favid corals, with growth rates typically less than 0.5cm/year. It posesses sweeper tentacles which can sting nearby colonies and inhibit competition for space. There are several morphological growth types in this species, and genetic analysis indicates a substantial degree of hybridisation between the morphs and between other closely related species of Platygyra.
Web resources
References
- Babcock, R.C., G.D. Bull, P.L. Harrison, A.J. Heyward, J.K. Oliver, C.C. Wallace and B.L. Willis (1986). Synchronous spawnings of 105 scleractinian coral species on the Great Barrier Reef, Marine Biology, 90: 379-394. LIRS catalog number 300.
- Baird, A.H. (2001). The ecology of coral larvae: settlement patterns, habitat selection and the length of the larval phase, Ph.D. thesis, James Cook University. LIRS catalog number 716.
- Baird, A.H., R.C. Babcock and C.P. Mundy (2003). Habitat selection by larvae influences the depth distribution of six common coral species. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 252: 289-293.
- View all references