brain corals
Grooved sea colonies
Brain corals are reef-building corals whose surface resembles the folds and grooves of a brain.
The intricate ridged pattern results from the growth of connected polyps.
They grow slowly and can live for centuries, forming massive dome-shaped colonies on tropical reefs: The brain coral was the size of a boulder.
- cnidariaStinging aquatic animal phylum
- polypsFixed aquatic invertebrates
- coloniesTerritories under foreign control
- groovesNarrow carved channels
- ridgesNarrow elevated formations
septa · symbiosis · reef · limestone · stony · marine · calcium carbonate · reef ecosystem · ocean acidification · lagoon · atoll · tropical waters · underwater world · scuba diving · barrier reef · mutualism · slow growth · Great Barrier Reef