hard corals text index | photo index
Phylum Cnidaria > Class Anthozoa > Subclass Zoantharia/Hexacorallia > Order Scleractinia > Family Merulinidae
Hedgehog corals
Echinopora sp.*
Family Merulinidae

updated Nov 2019
Where seen? These delicate plate hard corals with little bumps are rarely encountered, so far only on our undisturbed Southern islands.

Features: Colonies 20-30cm. May be boulder-shaped, branching or form plates. Those seen were mostly encrusting thin plates often with wavy edges. Small corallites (less than 0.5cm) that form prickly bumps with characteristic prickly ridges in the spaces between the corallites. Polyp tentacles are only extended at night. Colours seen include brown, yellow, blue and purple.

Status and threats: Some of the Hedgehog corals recorded for Singapore are listed as globally Near Threatened by the IUCN. Like other creatures of the intertidal zone, they are affected by human activities such as reclamation and pollution. Trampling by careless visitors, and over-collection also have an impact on local populations.

Raffles Lighthouse, Jul 06


Raffles Lighthouse, Jul 06

Raffles Lighthouse, May 04


Pulau Semakau, Aug 08

*Species are difficult to positively identify without close examination.
On this website, they are grouped by external features for convenience of display.

Hedgehog corals on Singapore shores
On wildsingapore flickr

Other sightings on Singapore shores


Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, Jun 22

.

Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on facebook

Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, Jun 22
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on facebook.


Tanah Merah, May 14

Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on his blog.

Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, Jun 22

Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on facebook.
 


Sisters Island, Sep 09

Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on flickr.

Terumbu Bemban, Aug 23

Photo shared by Richard Kuah on facebook.
 

Echinopora species recorded for Singapore
Danwei Huang, Karenne P. P. Tun, L. M Chou and Peter A. Todd. 30 Dec 2009. An inventory of zooxanthellate sclerectinian corals in Singapore including 33 new records
**the species found on many shores in Danwei's paper.
in red are those listed as threatened on the IUCN global list.


  Family Merulinidae
Genus Echinopora
  Echinopora gemmacea**
Echinopora hirsutissima
Echinopora horrida
(Near Threatened)
Echinopora lamellosa**
Echinopora pacificus**
(Near Threatened)

Links

References

  • Danwei Huang, Karenne P. P. Tun, L. M Chou and Peter A. Todd. 30 Dec 2009. An inventory of zooxanthellate sclerectinian corals in Singapore including 33 new records (pdf). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement No. 22: 69-80.
  • Veron, Jen. 2000. Corals of the World Australian Institute of Marine Science, Australia. 3 volumes.
  • Chou, L. M., 1998. A Guide to the Coral Reef Life of Singapore. Singapore Science Centre. 128 pages.
  • Erhardt, Harry and Daniel Knop. 2005. Corals: Indo-Pacific Field Guide IKAN-Unterwasserachiv, Frankfurt. 305 pp.
  • Borneman, Eric H. 2001. Aquarium Corals: Selection, Husbandry and Natural History T.F. H Publications. 464 pp
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