Star Coral

I have to admit, I’m not sure which Star Coral this is. Star corals in general look about like this. Sometimes they build moundy things, sometimes they have bumps, sometimes they mostly just grow on the substrate. These types of coral are sometimes referred to as “mound” or “boulder” corals. This one looks a lot like the Ten-ray Star Coral (Madracis decactis), which is common in the Caribbean and is often green. I believe it is called star coral because each of the little spots is actually a star-shaped polyp, or perhaps a squishy sunflower.

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