Giant pavona (Pavona gigantea), illustration

Wildlife Pavona gigantea

Giant pavona in Los Cabos

The big, rounded boulders of coral on the Cabo Pulmo reef are often giant pavona. It grows about a centimeter a year, so big colonies are decades old, and it keeps its tentacles out in daylight, which gives it a soft, furry look.

~1 cmGrowth per year at Cabo Pulmo

Up to 53 yearsOldest colony aged at Cabo Pulmo

0–40 mDepth range

NTIUCN Red List (assessed 2023)

When to see them

Jan●Feb●Mar●Apr●May●Jun●Jul●Aug●Sep●Oct●Nov●Dec●

●● best months · ● regular · · occasional. Based on scientific studies and local reports; it changes year to year.

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How to recognize it

A massive coral that forms rounded mounds and boulders, sometimes flattened on top. The polyp cups (corallites) are close together, well defined, with thick walls and a star-shaped pattern of ridges. Colonies are green, grey or brown, and because the tentacles are often extended during the day, the surface looks furry or velvety.

Biology

Giant pavona is an eastern Pacific coral, found from Baja California to Ecuador. In shallow water it is uncommon, but at Cabo Pulmo it is one of the four corals that build the reef: a 2011 CONANP survey found it made up about 9% of the live coral, after the two cauliflower coral forms and the Panamic porites coral. It has been recorded in the park and at Bahía Chileno, between Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo.

Most colonies are either male or female; in a two-year study in Oaxaca, only one hermaphrodite colony turned up. Reproduction is seasonal, roughly April to September, shifting a little each year, and day length was the factor that best predicted it. At Cabo Pulmo, colonies grow about 10 mm a year, and researchers estimate that a cohort could live about a century.

Things you probably didn't know

A coral you can age

Using a stain that marks the skeleton, researchers measured growth of 10.1 mm a year at Cabo Pulmo. From colony heights, they aged 87 colonies at 3 to 53 years, with an average of about 15.

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Built to last a century

The same study estimated a natural death rate of about 5% of colonies a year and a maximum cohort lifespan of about 101 years. It was the first such estimate for any coral in its family, Agariciidae.

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Furry by day

Giant pavona often keeps its tentacles extended during the day, which makes colonies look furry instead of stony.

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Timed by daylight

Off Oaxaca, the share of colonies ready to reproduce rose and fell with the seasons, and day length explained more of it than any other factor measured.

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Lost farther south in 2023

After the 2023 marine heat wave, about 80% of the corals in Huatulco National Park, Oaxaca, died, and photos from the park show bleached giant pavona. Cabo Pulmo fared far better.

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Hit in 1997

During the 1997 El Niño, bleaching killed corals of all four reef-building genera at Cabo Pulmo, Pavona included, and more than half of the live coral cover was lost.

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Seeing them from the boat

Giant pavona is for snorkelers and divers to look at, not something to fish or collect. The place to see it near Cabo is Cabo Pulmo National Park, where the big mounds sit among the cauliflower corals on the reef bars; it has also been recorded at Bahía Chileno. Look for rounded, greenish-brown boulders with a velvety surface. At Cabo Pulmo, scuba diving is allowed only with a park-accredited guide, and snorkelers must wear a life vest in the reef areas.

A boulder that has grown for decades looks tough, but its living layer is thin: don't touch it, stand on it or rest on it. Inside the park, keep at least 2.5 m from rock and coral formations; gloves and knives are banned and boats may anchor only on sand.

Rules & conservation

Sport fishing (NOM-017-PESC-1994, 2013 update)	Only fish may be taken; coral cannot be collected
Anchoring (NOM-017, 4.16 b)	Never on coral; at least 15 m from the edge of a coral reef
Federal Penal Code, art. 420 Bis	2 to 10 years in prison for damaging reefs, up to 2 more in a protected area
Mexico (NOM-059)	Not listed
CITES	Appendix II: moving coral across borders needs permits
IUCN Red List	Near Threatened (assessed 2023)
Cabo Pulmo National Park	No collecting; keep 2.5 m from coral; no gloves or knives; anchor only on sand

Look, don't touch: breaking or taking coral is illegal in Mexico.

Don't confuse it with

The Panamic porites coral also forms mounds and lumps, but its greenish-grey surface is smooth to wavy, without star-shaped cups or a furry daytime look. Pavona clavus, recorded at Bahía Chileno, has similar thick-walled cups but grows as columns, clubs or plates rather than boulders. Pavona explanulata forms crusts, plates or columns with more widely spaced cups.

Giant pavona in Los Cabos

When to see them

How to recognize it

Biology

Things you probably didn't know

A coral you can age

Built to last a century

Furry by day

Timed by daylight

Lost farther south in 2023

Hit in 1997

Seeing them from the boat

Rules & conservation

Don't confuse it with

Questions

How old are the coral boulders at Cabo Pulmo?

Why does this coral look furry?

Can I touch it?

Sources

See Cabo from the water

28' Sportfisher · Cabo San Lucas

27' Center Console · Cabo San Lucas

26' Shamrock · Cabo San Lucas

More species

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