Skip to content

Turbinaria patula

About

Turbinaria patula is an evolutionarily distinct colonial species composed of plate like colony branches and tubular corallites which extend characteristically towards colony edges.

This dull coloured species favours shallow rocky habitats in sub-tropical locations.

Turbinaria patula is a colonial, stony coral species meaning that as the individual animals (polyps) of this species grow they exude calcium carbonate to form exoskeletons (corallites) for protection. Specific oceanic conditions are required for polyps to synthesize and exude calcium carbonate. Like other Turbinaria corals, their large structures will provide important habitat diversity within reef ecosystems.

The most significant threat to this coral is considered to be temperature induced coral bleaching.

  • Order: Scleractinia
  • Family: Dendrophylliidae
  • Trend: unknown
  • Depth Range (m): 7 - 20

EDGE Score

EDGE Score: 4.22 (?)
ED Score: 16.09 (?)
GE / IUCN Red List (?)
Not Evaluated Data Deficient Least Concern Near Threatened Vulnerable Endangered Critically Endangered Extinct in the Wild Extinct

Distribution

This species is found in the shallow, tropical waters of the central Indo-Pacific, tropical and sub-tropical Australia, South China Sea, and the oceanic West Pacific.

Habitat and Ecology

T.patula is found on inshore reefs and shallow rocky foreshores in subtropical locations where they can form plates which can reach over 1 m in diameter.

This species, along with the rest of the genus, is gonochoric. This is unusual for corals and means that there are separate male and female sexes. Individuals in this species spawn in synchrony, ejecting eggs and sperm en masse into the ocean for external fertilization.

Find out more

This wordcloud illustrates the threats facing this species. The size of each word indicates the extent of a species range that is affected by that threat (larger size means a greater area is affected). The colour of the word indicates how much that threat impacts the species (darker shades of red mean the threat is more severe).

Urban development Industrial development Tourism Extreme temperatures Extreme weather Shipping Fishing Recreation Invasive species Native species Wastewater Industry Agriculture Air pollution

Threat wordcloud key:

Small area affected
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
Large area affected
Least severe
Most severe
Severity unknown
Source: The IUCN List of Threatened Species. Version 2017.1.
Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org