← Back

Brain Coral

Platygyra daedalea

Classification

Brain coral is a common name given to various corals in the families Mussidae and Merulinidae, so called due to their generally spheroid shape and grooved surface, which resembles a brain. Each head of coral is formed by a colony of genetically identical polyps which secrete a hard skeleton of calcium carbonate; this makes them important coral reef builders like other stony corals in the order Scleractinia. Brain corals are found in shallow warm water coral reefs in all the world's oceans.

Distribution

(c) Philippe Bourjon, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC-BY-SA
Loading map…
Countries in the Picchu catalog
France · 18United States of America · 1