Brain Coral

ID points

• Dome-shaped colony with winding grooves like a brain
• Grooves of even width, with unbroken continuous ridges
• Extends its tentacles to feed at night

Basics

Family

Faviidae

Length

30–180 cm

Depth

1-40 m

Regions

Indo-Pacific reefs · Caribbean & W. Atlantic

Distribution

Tropical coral reefs

Diet

Symbiotic algae and plankton

Easily confused with

Barrel SpongeA huge barrel-shaped body with a deep central openingStaghorn CoralBranches spread up and out like stag antlersUpside-down JellyfishLies upside down on the bottom, bell down and oral arms up

Fun fact

The grooves on its surface look uncannily like the folds of a brain. It grows extremely slowly, so a large colony 2 metres across may well have been growing for over a century.