Species introCountry intro
Boulder Star Coral
Sep 13, 2017. Dive site 1000 Steps, Bonaire.
A common coral in the area. The colonies grow in several morphotypes, that were originally described as separate species. The species occurs as long, thick columns with enlarged, dome-like tops; large, massive mounds; sheets with skirt-like edges; irregularly bumpy mounds and plates or as smooth plates. Colonies up to 3 meter in diameter. The surface is covered with distinctive, often somewhat raised, corallites. Shades of green to brown, yellow-brown and gray.
Habitat:
Inhabit most reef environments and the species is often the predominant coral between 7 and 25 m. The flattened plates are most common at deeper reefs, down to 50 m.
Distribution:
Common to abundant Florida, Bahamas and Caribbean.
''Orbicella annularis'', commonly known as the boulder star coral, is a species of coral that lives in the western Atlantic Ocean and is the most thoroughly studied and most abundant species of reef-building coral in the Caribbean to date. It also has a comprehensive fossil record within the Caribbean. This species complex has long been considered a generalist that exists at depths between 0 and 80 meters that grew into varying colony shapes in response to differing light conditions. Only recently.. more
