Pore coral

About this species

Montipora flabellata, known by the common name blue rice coral, is a species of coral in the family Acroporidae. It is found growing on coral reefs in tropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is known to be endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Its Hawaiian name translated to Polū laiki ko'a, polū meaning blue, laiki meaning rice, and ko'a meaning corals in ʻŌlelo Hawaii.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Montipora flabellata”, 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: 2 records
February: 2 records
March: 14 records
April: 21 records
May: 15 records
June: 17 records
July: 18 records
August: 23 records
September: 734 records
October: 1,178 records
November: 474 records
December: 7 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–39 m · Deepest record: 54.5 m

0–10 m: 1,692 records
10–20 m: 7 records
20–30 m: 17 records
30–40 m: 230 records
40–50 m: 180 records
50–60 m: 15 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 24–29 °C

22–24 °C: 362 records
24–26 °C: 598 records
26–28 °C: 0 records
28–30 °C: 3 records

Photos

(c) Jon Sullivan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jon Sullivan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Cos, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Thomas Irvine, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Cos, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Pore coral, pore coral

Other scientific names: Montipora flabellate

Similar species

Pore coral
Montipora capitata
Pore coral
Montipora patula
Pore coral
Montipora aequituberculata
Pore coral
Montipora digitata
Pore coral
Montipora hispida
Pore coral
Montipora incrassata

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).
2,402 open-data records from 2005 to 2010.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.