Acanthastrea echinata

Acanthastrea echinata, commonly known as the starry cup coral, is a species of corals in the family Lobophylliidae. It is a wide-ranging species found from the western Indian Ocean, throughout the Pacific Ocean, and eastward to the southeastern Atlantic Ocean. It can inhabit any reef habitat to depths of 50 m. This species, which may become threatened with the global decline of coral reefs, is a popular coral used in aquariums.

Acanthastrea echinata

Philippe Bourjon · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AcanthastreaPBDB
Diet
microcarnivore, photosymbioticPBDB, for Scleractinia
Life habit
intermediate-level epifaunal, colonial, clonalPBDB, for Scleractinia
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Scleractinia
Vision
blindPBDB, for Anthozoa
Environment
marinePBDB, for Scleractinia

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 20.45 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 4 of 28 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 28 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 19 of 28 occurrencesPleistocene21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.8–9.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.1–8.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.4–7.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.7–7.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.0–6.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.3–5.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.6–4.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.9–4.2 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.2–3.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.5–2.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.8–2.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.1–1.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.4–698 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences698 ka–0 Mya — about 18 occurrences15.98 Mya11.7 ka20.9 Mya0 Mya

28 occurrences of Acanthastrea echinata on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

28 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

8 formations

Ghasr Ghand — 26.50°N, 60.00°ESobe — 26.39°N, 127.73°ENaha — 26.08°N, 127.67°EMerizo — 13.23°N, 144.72°EEra Beds — 8.35°S, 146.28°ENuma — 34.97°N, 139.83°EGelingseh — 1.07°N, 117.85°EYalam — 4.28°S, 151.83°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Acanthastrea echinata has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 16 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Acanthastrea echinata and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Acanthastrea echinata and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

262 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 12 sites for Acanthastrea echinata, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

18 references

Each of the 28 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 6 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Acanthastrea echinata

Credit
Philippe Bourjon
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAcanthastrea through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Dana 1846)