Palythoa tuberculosa

About this species

Palythoa tuberculosa, also known as the pillow zoanthid, or rubbery zoanthid, is a species of cnidarian in the family Sphenopidae. This species is commonly found in shallow tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific region, including Hawai'i, where it plays a role in reef ecosystems by forming encrusting colonies on rocky surfaces.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Palythoa tuberculosa”, 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: 127 records
February: 127 records
March: 137 records
April: 149 records
May: 147 records
June: 141 records
July: 152 records
August: 148 records
September: 102 records
October: 145 records
November: 122 records
December: 149 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–12 m · Deepest record: 27.5 m

0–10 m: 44 records
10–20 m: 11 records
20–30 m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 21–29 °C

20–22 °C: 5 records
22–24 °C: 3 records
24–26 °C: 78 records
26–28 °C: 11 records
28–30 °C: 26 records

Photos

(c) Liam Steele, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Liam Steele, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Cricket Raspet, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Robin White, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Robin White, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Luke Lythgoe, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

Names in 1 more languages

Japanese: イワスナギンチャク

Other scientific names: Alcyonium tuberculosum, Palythoa (Corticifera) tuberculosa

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).
385 open-data records from 1964 to 2018.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.