A solid-looking coral head is a community of tiny animals. Porites lobata builds the reef slowly, adding limestone year after year.
- Local names
- Pukakana
- Habitat
- Lagoon and reef
About this species
Each colony consists of many polyps living with microscopic symbiotic algae. The algae provide food made by photosynthesis, while the polyps also capture particles and small prey with mucus and stinging cells.
Porites lobata is an important reef builder. The Society’s guide gives a growth rate of about 8 mm a year; actual growth varies with conditions. In some places it dominates the coral community so strongly that much of the reef is built by this one species.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porites_lobata
