By Dr. Laura Walton Earlier this year I attended a Reefdivers talk and was introduced to the idea of “Seeing the Reef with new eyes”: As divers we see the reef all the time, without ever really seeing…
Learn To Spot Six Types Of Plating Coral
Plating Corals Spotting coral can be overwhelming when everything looks the same. However, learning to recognize corals based on growth forms in the easiest way to master the art of coral spotting. Pl…
Learn to Spot Six Types of Branching Coral
Six Types of Branching Coral One of the first steps to becoming a coral spotter is learning to recognize coral growth forms. An perhaps the most recognizable of them all is branching corals. But even …
Learn To Spot Coral Diversity: Large Polyp Corals
Large Polyp Corals Large polyp corals are any hard coral species which have thick fleshy tissue and large corallites over a few centimeters wide. There are even some extra large species with polyps th…
Learn To Spot Coral Diversity: Small Polyp Corals
Small Polyp Corals Do you remember how to tell the difference between hard and soft corals? Remember it has to do with the number of tentacles… We explained that hard corals are based on a six fold sy…
Learn To Spot Coral Diversity: Coral Growth Forms
Learn to Spot Coral Growth Forms Corals are the foundation of the marine environment, but the diversity of coral species often gets overlooked. Looking for corals can be overwhelming. There are so man…
Spot The Difference Between Hard Coral and Soft Coral
The Difference Between Hard and Soft Corals It may seems simple enough, one is soft and one is hard, but can you really spot the different between these two distinct groups of coral? The biggest diffe…
Top 10 Corals to Spot in the Gardens of the Queen, Cuba
Coral Spotting in Cuba Gardens of the Queen, a protected archipelago off the southern coast of Cuba, is renowned for their healthy population of sharks and mature fish. But coral diversity in the park…
Scolymia Coral Spotting in the Gardens of the Queen, Cuba
Scolymia Coral Spotting Scolymia is a large polyp coral species that lives a solitary life. There are two species of Caribbean Scolymia, the larger Scolymia lacera, and smaller Scolymia cubensis and y…
Porites cylindrica Habitat Found Around The Island of Rao
Porites cylindrica Porites, porites, porites, this is a common coral genus found in all the worlds oceans. Porites is a hardy coral growing in a number of forms, and to identify this coral genus you j…