Slipper coral

Herpolitha limax

Corals and anemones
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth3–19 m
Water temperature-0–29 °C
Best monthsMay and August
How commonOccasional

About this species

Herpolitha is a monotypic genus of mushroom corals in the family Fungiidae. The only member of the genus is Herpolitha limax, commonly known as the tongue, slipper, mole or striate boomerang coral. It is a free-living species and is native to reefs and lagoons in the Indo-Pacific region. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed this coral as being of "least concern".

Text from the Wikipedia article “Herpolitha”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 0 records
February: 16 records
March: 12 records
April: 12 records
May: 59 records
June: 4 records
July: 13 records
August: 53 records
September: 21 records
October: 3 records
November: 0 records
December: 5 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 3–19 m · Deepest record: 57 m

0–10 m: 212 records
10–20 m: 66 records
20–30 m: 10 records
30–40 m: 6 records
40–50 m: 9 records
50–60 m: 5 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of -0–29 °C

-2–0 °C: 1 records
0–2 °C: 0 records
2–4 °C: 0 records
4–6 °C: 0 records
6–8 °C: 0 records
8–10 °C: 0 records
10–12 °C: 0 records
12–14 °C: 0 records
14–16 °C: 0 records
16–18 °C: 0 records
18–20 °C: 0 records
20–22 °C: 0 records
22–24 °C: 0 records
24–26 °C: 132 records
26–28 °C: 132 records
28–30 °C: 110 records

Names and classification

English: Slipper coral, Striate boomerang coral, Hairy Tongue Coral, Mole Coral, slipper coral, striate boomerang coral, Tongue Coral

Names in 5 more languages

German: Pantoffelkoralle
French: Corail-boomerang
Japanese: キュウリイシ, キュウリイシ［ヒトスジキュウリイシ］, ヒトスジキュウリイシ
Thai: ปะการังบูมเมอแรง
Simplified Chinese: 蛞蝓匐石珊瑚

Other scientific names: Fungia limacina, Fungia limax, Fungia praecursor, Fungia weberi, Haliglossa foliosa, Haliglossa interrupta, Haliglossa limacina, Haliglossa stellaris, Herpetoglossa secunda, Herpetolitha ampla, Herpetolitha crassa, Herpetolitha crassus, Herpetolitha foliosa, Herpetolitha interrupta, Herpetolitha limax, Herpetolitha stellaris, Herpetolitha stricta, Herpetolithas foliosa, Herpetolithas interrupta, Herpetolithas limacina, Herpetolithas stellaris, Herpetolithus crassus, Herpetolithus foliosus, Herpetolithus interruptus, Herpetolithus limacinus, Herpetolithus stellaris, Herpetolithus strictus, Herpolitha foliosa, Herpolitha stricta, Herpolitha weberi

Similar species

mushroom coral
Danafungia horrida
mushroom coral
Cycloseris cyclolites
Disc coral
Fungia fungites
Plate coral
Heliofungia actiniformis
mushroom coral
Lithophyllon concinna
mushroom coral
Lithophyllon repanda

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
1,060 open-data records from 1792 to 2012.

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