Great star coral

Montastraea cavernosa

Montastraea cavernosa is a stony coral ( Scleractinia ). Like most corals are colonies consisting of many thousands of individual polyps. A single polyp can reach a diameter of twelve millimeters, Montastraea cavernosa is one of the Großpolypigen stony corals. The total colony growing dome-shaped and can be two meters high.

Dissemination

Montastraea cavernosa lives in the tropical western Atlantic, in the Bahamas, the Caribbean and along the coast of Brazil to Rio de Janeiro. In the Caribbean, it is one of the most important reef-building corals. There is also a population in the eastern Atlantic, with the islands in the Gulf of Guinea. The coral grows at depths from one to 90 meters. In the south of its range, the colonies will only be accessible diameter of one meter and form crusty coatings on rocks.