Open brain coral

Trachyphyllia geoffroyi

Trachyphyllia geoffroyi is a stony coral. She lives in the coral reefs of the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific, from southern Japan to Australia, the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. It occurs mainly in Innenriffbereichen, deep lagoons and on the soft soils to continental islands.

Features

The coral has elongated winding meandering Koralliten, which are separated from each other by trenches ( flabello - meandroide habit ). There are few, large and fleshy polyps that are of strong red or green color, but mostly light green, pink or gray often. Some polyps iridescent or fluorescent. The skeleton of the coral reaches a maximum diameter of eight inches in fully expanded polyps, a colony reach a diameter of eight inches or more.

Way of life

As a young coral Trachyphyllia lives geoffroyi rooted on stones, shells or auger housing. Later, she breaks off under their own weight and then lies with its conical bottom the mostly sandy bottom loose on.

Trachyphyllia geoffroyi lives in a symbiotic relationship with zooxanthellae, single-celled algae from the group of dinoflagellates, which are also important for the diet of the coral. At night, the coral stretches out her many, are one to two inches long tentacles and begins zooplankton.

Trachyphyllia geoffroyi is imported for the purpose of aquarium maintenance mainly from Singapore and Indonesia.