|
Related FAQs: Faviids, Faviids 2, Faviids 3, Faviid Identification, Faviid Behavior, Faviid Compatibility, Faviid Selection, Faviid Systems, Faviid Feeding, Faviid Disease, Faviid Disease 2, Faviid Reproduction/Propagation, Stony/True Coral, Coral System Set-Up, Coral System Lighting, Stony Coral Identification, Stony Coral Selection, Coral Placement, Foods/Feeding/Nutrition, Disease/Health, Propagation, Growing Reef Corals, Stony Coral Behavior, Related Articles: Large Polyp Stony Corals, Stony or True Corals, Order Scleractinia, Dyed Corals, /The Best Livestock For Your Reef Aquarium: "Honeycomb", Brain Corals, More and Less, Family Faviidae, pt. 1 To: Part 2, Part 3 | 
| By Bob Fenner |
Caulastrea echinulata |
Family Faviidae Gregory 1900. The second largest family of stony/true corals (after the Acroporids of course). More than twenty genera (24)... Most are roundish to hemispherical and "brain like" in appearance, though there are some notable exception. All bear zooxanthellae and are colonial. Range: Widely distributed in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Two genera in common, Favia, Montastrea. Genus Australogyra (Veron and Pichon 1977). One species. | Australogyra zelli (Veron and Pichon 1977). Branching colonies of up to two meters across. Corallites of thick walls that are smooth and rounded. Bunaken, Sulawesi, Indonesia image. | 
|
Genus Caulastrea Dana 1846, Candy Cane Corals. From the Greek: "Kaulos" meaning Cabbage stalk and "Aster" for star. Look like a sprouting cabbage on their stick like ("phaceloid") colonial structure. | Caulastrea furcata Dana 1846. Small corallites (under 10 mm. in diameter). Septa are irregular, some much larger (tooth-like) than others, sticking out. Have distinctive "candy cane" appearance. Common in the wild and captivity. Easily kept, cultured, reproduced by fragmentation. Aquarium pix. | 
|
| Bigger PIX: The images in this table are linked to large (desktop size) copies. Click on "framed" images to go to the larger size. |
 |
| Caulastrea echinulata (Milne Edwards and Haime 1849). Though septa are exsert, they're all about the same size. Small polyps, fleshy. Aquarium photo. | 
|
Genus Colpophyllia Milne Edwards and Haime 1848. One species. | Colpophyllia natans (Houttuyn 1772), Symmetrical Brain Coral. Large roundish to hemispherical colonies or encrusting. Long snake-like valleys. Septa short, equal and pointing out. A fine ambulacral groove runs along the top between corallite walls, and a further line can be seen midway down the valleys. The world's largest Brain Coral on the right off of Flying Reef, Tobago; below, a view of it edge-wise and a colorful shot and close-up of smaller specimens in the Bahamas. | 
|
| Bigger PIX: The images in this table are linked to large (desktop size) copies. Click on "framed" images to go to the larger size. |
 %20MD.JPG)
%20MD.JPG) 
 |
Genus Diploastrea Matthai 1914. One species. | Diploastrea heliopora (Lamarck 1816). Dome shaped colonies with a smooth appearance. Corallites as small cones of thick walls, and small opening for columellae. One in Bunaken, Indonesia, the other off of Thailand in the Andaman Sea. |  
|
Genus Diploria Milne Edwards and Haime 1848. Massive, meandroid colonies. Columellae (centers of corallites) are interlinked with ridges. All tropical West Atlantic. | Diploria clivosa Here in Jamaica | |
| Diploria labyrinthiformis (Linnaeus 1758). Typically hemispherical in appearance. Often with some valleys being parallel, spaced about 5-8 mm. apart, trough-like, appear double-walled. At right in Bonaire. Below, a boulder being shared with a Montastrea in Belize, and Bahamas and Grand Turks image. | 
|
| Bigger PIX: The images in this table are linked to large (desktop size) copies. Click on "framed" images to go to the larger size. |
 %20MD.JPG)
%20MD.JPG) |
| Diploria strigosa (Dana 1848). Massive domes or encrusting plates. Valleys spaced 6-9 mm. apart. Have very fine distict goove along top of ridge (ambulacral groove). Surface is smooth. Tobago images. |  
|
| Bigger PIX: The images in this table are linked to large (desktop size) copies. Click on "framed" images to go to the larger size. |
%20MD.JPG)
%20MD.jpg) |
Genus Echinopora Lamarck 1816. Mostly wavy laminar sheets that appear wavy on their ends.
| Bigger PIX: The images in this table are linked to large (desktop size) copies. Click on "framed" images to go to the larger size. |
 |
| Echinopora lamellosa (Esper 1795). Thin, wavy laminar sheets. Small corallites (3-4mm.). Indo-Central Pacific including the Red Sea. Bunaken, Sulawesi, Indonesia image. | 
|
| Bigger PIX: The images in this table are linked to large (desktop size) copies. Click on "framed" images to go to the larger size. |
 |
To: Part 2, Part 3 |
|
.JPG)
