Brain and Merulinid Corals Codexery

Favites pentagona

A common Indo-Pacific stony coral of least concern.

Last updated

Favites pentagona

Philippe Bourjon · via Wikipedia: Favites pentagona · CC BY-SA 4.0

The stony coral species Favites pentagona belongs to the order Scleractinia and the family Merulinidae, according to taxonomic databases.[1][2] Colonies of this coral form either encrusting or massive structures, occasionally developing irregular column-like lobes, and can reach a spread of roughly one metre across.[3]

Scientific classification

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumCnidaria
  3. SubphylumAnthozoa
  4. ClassHexacorallia
  5. OrderScleractinia
  6. FamilyMerulinidae
  7. GenusFavites
  8. SpeciesFavites pentagona

Named by (Esper, 1795)

Close relatives

Other species of Favites with a Codexery entry.

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Favites pentagona (CC BY-SA 4.0) · order, family and genus agree with WoRMS AphiaID 207446 (CC BY 4.0)

Conservation status

Least Concern (LC)

  1. LC▲ this species
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX
Population trend
Not held in our sources — see the assessment
Assessment published
2024

Source: IUCN Red List assessment · GBIF copy of the Red List category

Where the favites pentagona has been recorded

Where the favites pentagona has been recorded219 mapped locations from 1,569 GBIF occurrence records

Each dot is a place where the species has been observed and reported (1,569 records, half-degree grid) — not a modelled range. 40 inland records left out (institution coordinates).

Map: drawn by Codexery. Data: GBIF occurrence search (records CC0 / CC BY) · Natural Earth basemap (public domain)

Biology and range

It is an aggressive species that extends sweeper tentacles armed with stinging cells at night to avoid being overgrown.[4] The species is susceptible to black band disease and white plague.[5] Favites pentagona occurs naturally in shallow tropical and subtropical seas throughout the Indo-Pacific region.[6] It inhabits rocky reefs, outer reef channels, reef slopes, and lagoons, and is found at depths down to 25 metres.[6]

Sediment that settles on the coral's surface is removed when the polyps inflate, thereby dislodging the sand.[4] Spawning events within a given area are synchronized, with gamete bundles rising to the sea surface where they float, increasing the likelihood of successful fertilization.[7]

What the specialist sources record

The World Register of Marine Species records Favites pentagona as an accepted species described by Esper in 1790, placed in the family Merulinidae.[1] GBIF lists 1,914 occurrence records for this taxon as of October 2026.[2] The Open Library record for ISBN 1883693098 notes that the book "Corals" was published by Ricordea Publishing in September 1999.[8]

References

  1. World Register of Marine Species, Favites pentagona (AphiaID 207446). CC BY 4.0. marinespecies.org
  2. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence index, Favites pentagona (taxon key 2260082). CC BY 4.0 (backbone); counts are facts. gbif.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Favites pentagona" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hoeksema, Bert, "Favites pentagona (Esper, 1795)", 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Favites pentagona" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sprung, "Corals: A quick reference guide", Ricordea Publishing, 1999, p. 110–111; Riegl, B., "Effects of sand deposition on scleractinian and alcyonacean corals", Marine Biology, 1995, p. 517–526 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Favites pentagona" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Disease and immunity in Caribbean and Indo-Pacific zooxanthellate corals", Marine Ecology Progress Series, 2004, p. 273–302 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Favites pentagona" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Favites pentagona", Australian Institute of Marine Science, 2013; Sprung, "Corals: A quick reference guide", Ricordea Publishing, 1999, p. 110–111; DeVantier, L., "Favites pentagona", 2014 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Favites pentagona" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Aspects of the Fertilization Ecology of Broadcast Spawning Corals: Sperm Dilution Effects and in situ Measurements of Fertilization", The Biological Bulletin, 1992, p. 409–417 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Open Library record, ISBN 1883693098 ("Corals"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Favites pentagona (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Same family (Merulinidae)

Coelastrea aspera Coelastrea asperaDipsastraea pallida Dipsastraea pallida

Named in this entry

Favites

More in Brain and Merulinid Corals

Favites valenciennesiGoniastrea favulusGoniastrea retiformisHydnophora rigidaOpen brain coralOrbicellaOrbicella annularisOrbicella faveolataOrbicella franksiOulophyllia crispaParagoniastrea australensisPhysophyllia

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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