Common Mushroom Coral

Unlike most corals, this species lives as a single, free-swimming-looking disc rather than in a colony, and can come in a striking range of colors.

This species can be confused with corals of the related genus Cycloseris, which have a very similar free-living disc shape. The mark to check is the underside: this species carries a scar showing where it was once attached to rock as a juvenile, while Cycloseris corals are free-living from birth and never show that scar.

This is a solitary coral shaped like a round or oval disc. It comes in bright colors including white, pink, red, purple, blue, and yellow. A central mouth, surrounded by tentacles, sits in the middle and can appear as a slit. The polyp (the living coral animal) sits in a cup-shaped skeleton with radiating ridges on the inside and matching ridges continuing underneath. Young corals attach to rock, but larger individuals detach and live free on the seabed. Feeding tentacles usually only come out at night.

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  Boulder Brain Coral

  Colpophyllia natans

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  Cauliflower Coral

  Pocillopora verrucosa

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  Finger Coral

  Porites porites

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  Knobby brain coral

  Pseudodiploria clivosa

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  Mustard Hill Coral

  Porites astreoides

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  Symmetrical Brain Coral

  Pseudodiploria strigosa