You can find many species of stony corals throughout the different bodies of world’s water, ranging from deep, cold waters to shallower tropical ones. The stony corals are considered a very important part of oceanic ecosystems and the survival of marine life. 

Many scuba divers prefer Soft corals due to their magnificent shapes and colors, but stony corals deserve recognition as they build the structures upon which reef habitats are formed. Read this article to get valuable information about the  five beautiful types of stony coral.

Types of Stony Coral

Stony corals are regarded as the basic structure that intricate reef habitats are formed upon. Here are 5 types of stony corals.

• Pillar coral.
• Brain coral.
• Staghorn coral.
• Table coral.
• Cauliflower coral.

Pillar Coral

Dendrogyra cylindrus, which is known as pillar coral, grows at the ocean floor and continues its growth upwards vertically. Their name comes from their appearance that is like a pillar, as they can grow to 8 feet high. Pillar corals usually grow in colonies forming valleys between the individual pillars, without having secondary branches.

Brain Coral

Diploria labyrinthiformis, which are the species of coral belonging to the Faviidae family, are known as brain coral because they look like a brain. You can find Brain corals in shallow, warmer waters, where they grow in colonies that can reach six feet high and beyond. 

You will be amazed when you know that their life span averages about 900 years. It is considered the most corals to be equipped against storm damage. This is mainly because of their spherical shape and hardiness.

Staghorn Coral

Acropora cervicornis is known as staghorn coral because its appearance looks likea mature male deer’s horns.

It is considered the fastest growing species of all the fringe corals in western Atlantic, and its importance in the Caribbean lies in being a habitat for many fish and overall reef growth. 

Although the broken pieces of staghorn have the ability to reattach to the substrate and form new colonies, and that play a vital role in retaining its status as an important species of reef building, its outstretched limbs make it at high risk to be destroyed by storms or even human activity.

Table Coral

Table coral has the same family of staghorn coral and also is called Acropora pulchra, the table coral grows in massive flat plates that is maximizing its sun exposure, but this causes that only few corals can grow beneath it. 

Although having smooth and flat surface from afar, during closer inspection, this surface becomes pointed up toward the surface, which the polyps emerge from at night to feed.

Cauliflower Coral

The last one in our list of the types of stony corals is pocillopora meandrina which is known as cauliflower coral. Unlike other types of stony corals that coloured the drab green or brown hues, you can find cauliflower coral colored in hues of pink and purple in the shallow waters of the pacific and Indian Oceans. 

The cauliflower coral is hermaphroditic, as it feeds on larvae inside the body of the polyp while expelling them when maturity, they can swim freely as zooplankton until they settle and start hardening to form a new colony.