Pavona clavus

Pavona clavus is typically found on coral reefs at depths of , often on slopes and in areas exposed to currents. P. clavus is widely distributed, with its range extending from the western Indian Ocean to the eastern Pacific Ocean along with the South China Sea, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden. This range includes the coasts of eastern Africa and West Asia (including the Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Jordan, Kenya, Madagascar, the Maldives, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Réunion, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, and Yemen), Asia (including Brunei, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam) and Oceania (including American Samoa, Australia, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Guam, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna), through to western Central America and South America (including Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama). ==Description==

Pavona clavus is a cream, yellow, brown, or pale grey coral typically forming columnar or club-shaped colonies, though it may also form flattened plates. The columns are generally smooth and uniform in size, typically measuring up to tall and in diameter. The colonies may range from in diameter to over across, sometimes forming extensive single-species stands. The corallites of this species are circular and very small, measuring in diameter, with thick, well defined walls. The corallites may be arranged irregularly or in short valleys. Flattened colonies of P. clavus may resemble P. bipartita, and the corallites are similar to those of P. duerdeni. ==Ecology==

Pavona clavus is a reef-building species that grows at rates of per year. It is a preferred prey species of the crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) and one of two known host species of the gall crab Opecarcinus cathyae. ==Conservation==

Pavona clavus is listed as least concern on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List. Though coral reefs are declining globally, P. clavus is widely distributed and expected to decline by less than 25% by 2050. In some parts of its range it is known to bleach easily, but it appears to be more resilient in other areas. It is threatened by climate change, coral diseases, dynamite fishing, human development activities (including industrial, commercial, and housing development), invasive species, pollution, sedimentation, shipping, and tourism. Discovered in 2024 by a National Geographic Society expedition in collaboration with the Solomon Islands government, the Malaulalo colony measures wide, long, and tall and is estimated to be around 300 years old, composed of nearly one billion genetically identical polyps. Though the Malaulalo colony was described as being in "excellent health" by the expedition team who discovered it, other corals in the nearby reefs were observed dead. The colony's location, beneath the surface in cooler waters, may have contributed to its good health. ==References==