Ringed Plate Coral

Appearance

Colour: Pale brown to deep grey, often with pale margins.
Plate-like colonies 10-20cm, sometimes larger on undisturbed reefs, forming tiers of thin plates. Colonies are unifacial laminae, usually horizontal, which may develop upright ridges . They commonly form stands several metres across. More than one row of corallites may occur between ridges. The upper surface has ridges that are parallel to the growing edge, thus forming concentric rings. There is a texture of fine lines perpendicular to the ridges. The polyps are usually not visible, and it is hard to distinguish the corallite centres and mouths. Only a thin tissue covers the skeleton. The tissue bears cilia (thin hairs). Colours seen include brown, orangey, blue and green.

Naming

'Pachys' means 'thick' while 'seris' means 'lettuce-like'. It is also known as Serpent coral and Elephant skin coral.
Parent
Pachyseris Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849
Orig. name
Agaricia (Undaria) speciosa Dana, 1846
Synonymised names
Agaricia (Undaria) levicollis Dana, 1846 (synonym)
Agaricia (Undaria) speciosa Dana, 1846 (original combination, basionym)
Agaricia levicollis Dana, 1846 (synonym)
Agaricia speciosa Dana, 1846 (original combination, basionym)
Pachyseris clementei Nemenzo, 1955 (synonym)
Pachyseris haimei Quelch, 1886 (synonym)
Pachyseris levicollis (Dana, 1846) (synonym)

Distribution

Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Status

Least Concern.

Habitat

All reef habitats but most common on lower reef slopes.