Pedra da Lixa

A description of the Lixa reef published in 1870 already highlighted the dominance of milleporas, the fire corals, on its eastern edge. That work, a result of the Thayer Expedition, contains the first detailed description of coral zonation on the reefs of Abrolhos. Among the reefs studied, Lixa ranked third in crustacean richness, behind Timbebas and Coroa Vermelha. Together with Leste reef, however, it had the lowest percentages of live coral, hydrocoral and coralline algae cover, as well as fewer coral colonies of 20 cm or more. In the region, the hydrocoral Millepora nitida, once included in the Brazilian list of threatened species, is common in Parcel das Paredes and on other coastal reefs.