Lettuce Coral (Agaricia agaricites)

Also known as Leaf Coral, Lettuce Leaf Coral, Purple Lettuce Coral, Scaled Lettuce Coral, Tan Lettuce Leaf Coral, Thick Lettuce Leaf Coral

Description

Also known as Leaf Coral, Lettuce Leaf Coral, Purple Lettuce Coral, Scaled Lettuce Coral, Tan Lettuce Leaf Coral, Thick Lettuce Leaf Coral.

Found on shallow back reef flats and slopes of channels, lagoons and seagrass meadows.
They feed on plankton.
Length - 90cm
Depth - 1-75m
Widespread Western Atlantic, Caribbean

Stony corals have hard stony skeletons, their polyps have six tentacles or are made up of multiples of six. These are usually nocturnal, however if the sky's are overcast, then many will feed during the day.
Generally the more robust corals life on exposed areas, while the smaller corals live in sheltered lagoons or deeper waters.
Stony corals are reef building corals and embedded in their flesh are thousands of minute single-celled marine plants called zooxanthellae which accounts for their colour.
These corals support a huge diversity of life, their main predator being the crown-of-thorns sea star. Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agaricia_agaricites

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