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Cornish Red Data (2009)

The descriptive text, below the map, is from the Cornish Red Data Book (2009). The map on this web page depicts the organisms distribution and shows the records made pre-2000 and those made since.

Leptopsammia pruvoti - Sunset Cup Coral



Range & Status

Found attached to rocks especially in clefts and under overhangs, in the shallow sublittoral from 10-40m. Recently discovered in Britain from several localities off the north Devon coast (Lundy), south Devon, Lyme Bay and the Channel Islands. In Cornwall it is known from Gull Rock (near Nare Head), the Maenporth area, the Manacle Rocks (off the Lizard Peninsula) and on the north coast. This coral is very slow-growing and can live for in excess of 100 years but it reproduces very infrequently and is vulnerable to disturbance. This, and its rarity, has resulted in it being placed on the UK List of Priority Species with its own Species Action Plan. Leptopsammia pruvoti is also protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) 1975.

Source:

I.J. Bennallick, S. Board, C.N. French, P.A. Gainey, C. Neil, R. Parslow, A. Spalding and P.E. Tompsett. eds. 2009. Red Data Book for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. 2nd Edition.Croceago Press.

The Cornish Red Data Book Project was led by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Federation for Biological Recorders (CISFBR). The full text and species accounts (minus the maps) are available on the CISFBR website.