Cabbage Leather Coral

Appearance

They are a soft coral that has a thick and heavy "skin" with lobed projections, and form a low encrusting colony. They resemble a cabbage in that their curved, cupped shape looks like a large ruffled leaf.

The polyps of the Cabbage Leather Coral are on the outside edge of the "leaves". They look more like tufts instead of the fully developed polyps seen on other corals.

When feeding the polyps are out, and as nutrients are captured, the polyps retract. The flesh feels grainy, and can be brittle. In the wild, the colors of the L. crassum are light brown, with sometimes lighter contrasting colored polyps sparsely scattered across the surface. But they can range from dull gray, pink, cream, brownish, green, yellow and many colors in-between those shades. In captivity Intense greens, yellows and pinks have been specifically used for coral farming.

Naming

Orig. name: Lobophytum crassum von Marenzeller, 1886

Synonymised names:
- Alcyonium murale Dana, 1846 (synonym)
- Lobophytum angulatum Tixier-Durivault, 1956 (synonym)
- Lobophytum caledonense Tixier-Durivault, 1956 (synonym)
- Lobophytum crassospiculatum (Moser, 1919) (synonym)
- Lobophytum crassum var. cristagalli v. Marenzeller, 1886 (synonym)
- Lobophytum crassum var. prolifera von Marenzeller, 1886 (synonym)
- Lobophytum crebriplicatum var. crassospiculatum Moser, 1919
- Lobophytum cristagalli von Marenzeller, 1886 (synonym)
- Lobophytum hedleyi Whitelegge, 1897 (synonym)

Other common names include: Lobed leather coral, Rabbit Ear Leather Coral, Flower Coral, Lobed Leather Coral, dimorphic soft coral.

Distribution

Indo-West Pacific: Australia, New Caledonia, Taiwan and Ryukyu Island. Tropical to subtropical.

Habitat

They come from a wide variety of environments at depths of 6 to 25 m. They are found near the shore on shallow waters reef flats, where they are most prolific, as well as turbid lagoons attached to rubble. Some are exposed to low tide as well.

Reproduction

Males of the Cabbage Leather Coral L. crassum are distinguishable once they are 7" across (18 cm), 1-2 years old and weigh at least 3 ounces (83 g). At this point gonads are visible. The oocytes (cell that develops to an ovum) in females require 2 years to mature. All colonies are either male or female and do not change sex. The Lobophytum genus will also bud or pinch out daughter colonies.

Food

For nutrition they use the symbiotic algae, zooxanthellae, that lives within their tissue, and also extract nutrients from the water.

Predators

Mainly molluscs.

Uses

Coral trade for aquaria.

Also scientifically studied as source of cembrane-type diterpenoids with anti-inflammatory activity. It has also been studied for compounds with anti-proliferative activity in leukemya.