DiscoverSpeciesCorals and anemones
Organ pipe coral
Tubipora musica
- Usual depth1–34 m
- Water temperature22–30 °C
- Best monthsAugust, September, and November
- How commonRare
About this species
The organ pipe coral is an alcyonarian octocoral native to the waters of the Indian Ocean and the central and western regions of the Pacific Ocean. It is the only known species of the genus Tubipora. This species is a soft coral but with a unique, hard skeleton of calcium carbonate that contains many organ pipe-like tubes. On each tube is a series of polyps which each have eight feather-like tentacles. These tentacles are usually extended during the day, but will swiftly withdraw with any sort of disturbance. The skeleton is a bright red color, but is typically obscured by numerous polyps. Because of this, living colonies are typically green, blue, or purple due to the color of the expanded polyps. Colonies are typically dome-shaped and can reach up to 3 meters (9.8 ft) across, while the individual polyps are typically less than 3 mm wide and a few mm long. They are close relatives to other soft coral and sea fans. This species is a popular aquarium coral due to its ease to maintain, as well as higher tolerance compared to most true corals. However, its popularity presents a problem: along with its potential as an aquarium coral, the species' coloration makes it a popular commodity for tourists, leading to a variety of threats to the population.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Organ pipe coral”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 3 records
- February: 6 records
- March: 1 records
- April: 12 records
- May: 5 records
- June: 14 records
- July: 5 records
- August: 21 records
- September: 18 records
- October: 16 records
- November: 28 records
- December: 5 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 1–34 m · Deepest record: 796 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 22–30 °C
Names and classification
- English
- Organ pipe coral, Organ-pipe coral, Pipe-organ coral, Red organ pipe coral, organ pipe coral, organ-pipe coral, pipe-organ coral, red organ pipe coral
Names in 6 more languages
- German
- Orgelkoralle
- Spanish
- Coral órgano
- French
- Orgue de mer
- Japanese
- クダサンゴ
- Thai
- ปะการังท่อ
- Simplified Chinese
- 笙珊瑚
Other scientific names: Tubipora purpurea
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).
- 400 open-data records from 1758 to 2014.
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