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Goniopora, commonly referred to as flowerpot coral or daisy coral, is a genus of colonial stony coral found in lagoons and turbid water conditions. Goniopora have numerous daisy-like polyps that extend outward from the base, each tipped with 24 stinging tentacles which surrounds a mouth .
Goniopora tenuidens is native to the tropical Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. Its range extends from Madagascar, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, through the western, central and eastern Indian Ocean to southeastern Asia, Indonesia, Japan and the South China Sea, northern and eastern Australia and island groups in the western Pacific Ocean.
Colonies of Goniopora columna in Thailandia. This species develops hemispherical or irregular columnar mound shaped colonies with a neat appearance and dead basal parts. The color of the polips may be yellow, brown or green, usually with different color in the oral discs.
Goniopora stokesi is a species of colonial stony coral. As with other species in genus Goniopora , it has the common names 'flowerpot coral' and 'daisy coral'. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categorises its status as near threatened .
The following is a list of species (or subspecies) in the Mariana Islands, defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List or by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), as being extinct, critically endangered, endangered, threatened, vulnerable, conservation dependent, or near threatened.
On the sandy substrate, Goniopora and Pontes provide hard substrate for several other species, notably Acropora and Pavona. Large tabular 'Acropora corals are also conspicuous, and when dead or overturned, provide substrate for other colonizers. These patches have expanded and fused to provide the numerous, large coral banks found in the Bay.
It also browses on the sponge Gellius cymiformis, which is usually associated with the symbiotic alga Ceratodictyon spongiosum, and the living tissues and polyps of the stony corals Galaxea and Goniopora and the soft coral Xenia. In grazing in this way on corals it resembles the better known cushion star Culcita novaeguineae. [4]
The fluted giant clam Tridacna squamosa is attacked in this way, and corals attacked include Goniopora tenuidens, Porites sp., Astreopora listeri, Favites halicora, Dipsastraea pallida, Goniastrea retiformis and Cyphastrea serailia.