Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Labyrinthine brain coral

brain coral

What: Macro photo of the surface of a Labyrinthine brain coral (Diploria labyrinthiformis).
The polyps, which usually extend at night, live in the 'valleys' between the ridges.
These corals form hemispherical heads that can grow to four feet in diameter.

Where: I photographed this coral off the coast of Grand Cayman.  This species is found throughout the Caribbean and is also found around the Bahamas and south Florida.

3 comments:

catsynth said...

Beautiful close-up of the coral. I really like the textures. I actually saw something on a building recently that had similar shapes and patterns, though not the textural detail of the polyps on the coral.

scienceguy288 said...

Brains! Brains!

Sorry, but I do love these corals. They are so aptly named.

bernie kasper said...

Now that is funky, great shot !!