Serpent Coral

Amazing fact

Serpent coral has raised ridges arranged like nested rings across its surface.

海洋委員會海洋保育署

Serpent Coral in its habitat (illustration)

No sign-up needed. You can save notes on this device.

An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

Serpent coral has raised ridges arranged like nested rings across its surface.

Source海洋委員會海洋保育署 — 標準厚絲珊瑚｜臺灣百種海洋生物-珊瑚

THE REAL WORLD

The real Serpent Coral

Scientific name: Pachyseris speciosa
Japanese name: リュウモンサンゴ
Group: Ocean animals

Class: Hexacorallia
Order: Scleractinia
Family: Agariciidae
Genus: Pachyseris

Facts about the real animal.

It lives in seas from Kushimoto in Wakayama southward to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific.

鳥羽水族館 — リュウモンサンゴ

It is often seen in somewhat deeper water, where waves have little effect.

鳥羽水族館 — リュウモンサンゴ

How the Serpent Coral lives

It stays attached and usually grows sideways, often forming overlapping leaf-like parts. It often forms large colonies on rocky reef slopes near sandy bottoms.

沖縄美ら海水族館海洋委員會海洋保育署

Basic data

Range: South of Kushimoto in Wakayama Prefecture and the Indo-West Pacific

鳥羽水族館

Where the Serpent Coral has been recorded

Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF

Where it livesJapan World oceans Ocean

Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.

Names around the world

日本語: リュウモンサンゴ
简体中文: 标准厚丝珊瑚
繁體中文: 環形波紋珊瑚
Français: Pachyséris lamellaire

Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.

Sources and how we check

鳥羽水族館 — リュウモンサンゴChecked: 2026-11-04
沖縄美ら海水族館 — リュウモンサンゴChecked: 2026-11-07
海洋委員會海洋保育署 — 標準厚絲珊瑚｜臺灣百種海洋生物-珊瑚Checked: 2026-11-07

We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.

The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.

The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.

This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.

Report a mistake