Coelastrea aspera

Classification (WoRMS)

Full classification as recorded by WoRMS: Kingdom: Animalia · Phylum: Cnidaria · Class: Hexacorallia · Order: Scleractinia · Family: Merulinidae · Genus: Coelastrea.

Accepted name: Coelastrea aspera · Authority: (Verrill, 1866) · Taxonomic status: accepted · AphiaID: 762427.

Synonyms and superseded combinations recorded for this taxon: Favites aspera (Verrill, 1866); Favites spectabilis (Verrill, 1872); Goniastrea aspera Verrill, 1866; Goniastrea spectabilis (Verrill, 1872); Prionastraea spectabilis Verrill, 1872; Prionastrea spectabilis (Verrill, 1872).

Source: World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=762427 (CC BY 4.0). Accessed 2026-09-23.

Biology and life history (SeaLifeBase)

Measured values published by SeaLifeBase for Coelastrea aspera. Only fields the database actually holds for this species are shown; these are database values, not aquarium guidance.

Depth range: 0–40 m · Habitat zone: reef-associated.

Source: SeaLifeBase species summary (SpecCode 46749) — https://www.sealifebase.se/summary/Coelastrea-aspera.html (CC BY-NC 3.0 — non-commercial use only). Accessed 2026-09-23.

Distribution and occurrence records (GBIF)

1,074 georeferenced occurrence records for Coelastrea aspera are published through GBIF from 27 countries or marine areas. The map above plots 147 distinct locations from a sample of 1,074 records, omitting 24 inland records that carry an institution's coordinates rather than a collection site; it shows where the species has been observed and reported, not a modelled range.

Most records by country or area: Australia (694); Japan (237); American Samoa (55); New Caledonia (9); Indonesia (8).

The full country table, WoRMS marine regions and the sampling notes are on this species' Distribution page.

Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 7514839) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=7514839&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY); WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=762427 (CC BY 4.0); Natural Earth 110m basemap — https://www.naturalearthdata.com/ (public domain). Accessed 2026-09-23.

Conservation status (IUCN Red List)

The IUCN Red List assesses Coelastrea aspera (Verrill, 1866) as Least Concern (code LC). No trend, population estimate or threat analysis is given here, because none is available from this source without the Red List API; follow the source link for the full assessment, including its date.

Source: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (taxon 254266197) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/254266197/0; GBIF IUCN Red List category endpoint (taxonKey 7514839) — https://api.gbif.org/v1/species/7514839/iucnRedListCategory. Accessed 2026-09-23.

Description and natural history (Wikipedia)

Colonies of Coelastrea aspera are either encrusting or massive. The surface has a honeycomb-like appearance, the corallites being cerioid (several polyps sharing a common wall) in arrangement, deep and angular, with thick, straight walls. The septa are even, with long and short septa alternating in larger corallites. Budding is usually intratentacular (inside the ring of tentacles). The paliform lobes, visible through the tissues, are large and broad in protected environments but much smaller in colonies occupying exposed positions.

On intertidal flat rocks, several colonies in close proximity may form a level expanse several metres across. The general colour of this coral is usually pale brown and the oral discs may be a contrasting colour, often cream.

Coelastrea aspera is native to the Indo-Pacific region. Its range extends from Madagascar and the Red Sea, through the Indian Ocean to Australia, Indonesia, Japan and the East China Sea, and the western and central Pacific Ocean. It occurs on reef flats, on reef slopes and in lagoons, at depths down to about 15 m.

Coelastrea aspera is a simultaneous hermaphrodite. Packets of eggs and sperm are normally released into the water column and, being buoyant, rise to the surface. Here the packets break up and cross-fertilisation can take place with gametes from different colonies intermixing. The larvae remain near the surface for a few days. In a rather different forms of sexual reproduction, it has been found that on some occasions, the eggs and developing larvae are brooded in the maternal polyps. Some individual colonies have even been seen adopting both breeding strategies at the same time in different parts of the colony.

C. aspera is a zooxanthelate coral. In its tissues it contains symbiotic unicellular photosynthetic organisms that provide nutrients and energy for the coral host. The coral in return provides a protective environment and a supply of carbon dioxide for the zooxanthellae. Under conditions of stress, usually high water temperature or excessive solar radiation, the coral expels some or all of these symbionts, a condition known as coral bleaching. In Thailand in 1995, in a reef flat dominated by C. aspera, there was a mass bleaching event caused by high water temperatures. Researchers found that the east side of each coral was bleached while the west side was unaffected. They hypothesized that the corals "remembered" a previous bleaching event caused by solar radiation and had built in some defences on the affected side. In 2000, they detached a number of colonies and rotated them through 180°, and when a further severe bleaching event occurred in 2010, the researchers took samples to assess the number of zooxanthellae present on each side of these corals and in controls. They found that the rotated corals had significantly higher levels (four times as many) of zooxanthellae in the affected areas than unrotated corals. This demonstrated that the previously affected areas had developed coping strategies and had a "memory" of at least ten years.

Source: Wikipedia: Coelastrea aspera — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelastrea_aspera (CC BY-SA 4.0). Accessed 2026-09-23.

Gallery