Pavona cactus
Forskål, 1775
Description: Colonies are composed of thin, contorted, bifacial, upright fronds with or without thickened branching bases. Corallites are fine, shallow and are aligned in irregular rows parallel to frond margins.
Color: Pale brown or greenish-brown, often with white margins.
Habitat: Usually found in lagoons and on upper reef slopes, especially those of fringing reefs, and in turbid water protected from wave action, where colonies are sometimes over 10 metres across.
Abundance: Common.
Similar Species: Pavona frondifera.
Source reference: Veron (2000). Taxonomic reference: Veron and Pichon (1980). Identification guides: Randall and Myers (1983), Veron (1986), Sheppard and Sheppard (1991), Nishihira and Veron (1995), Coles (1996).
Showing the smooth surface of contorted fronds. Calamain Islands, Philippines Photograph: Charlie Veron
On a sheltered reef slope. Calamian Islands, Philippines Photograph: Charlie Veron
Large fronds in a protected environment. Banda Sea, Indonesia Photograph: Valerie Taylor
Skeletal detail. Showing corallites.