Pocillopora damicornis

Pocillopora damicornis, commonly known as the cauliflower coral or lace coral, is a species of stony coral in the family Pocilloporidae. It is native to tropical and subtropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Pocillopora damicornis

Ahmed Abdul Rahman · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
PocilloporaPBDB
Diet
microcarnivore, photosymbioticPBDB, for Scleractinia
Life habit
intermediate-level epifaunal, colonial, clonalPBDB, for Scleractinia
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Scleractinia
Vision
blindPBDB, for Anthozoa
Environment
marinePBDB, for Scleractinia

Time the record covers

At least 33 million years on record.

The record covers at least 33.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 70 occurrencesEocene — about 1 of 70 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 70 occurrencesMiocene — about 4 of 70 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 70 occurrencesPleistocene — about 43 of 70 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 60 occurrences33.9 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

70 occurrences of Pocillopora damicornis on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

70 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

5 formations

Merizo — 13.23°N, 144.72°EEra Beds — 8.35°S, 146.28°EHateruma — 24.04°N, 123.79°EDayrell — 29.23°S, 177.82°WNuma — 34.97°N, 139.83°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Pocillopora damicornis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 64 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Pocillopora damicornis and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Pocillopora damicornis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

345 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 28 sites for Pocillopora damicornis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

39 references

Each of the 70 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 27 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Pocillopora damicornis

Credit
Ahmed Abdul Rahman
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D scan

Licence
CC0 — this site’s default, not the record’s
Commercial use
the licence allows it
Specimen
Pocillopora damicornis caespitosa

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPocillopora through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)