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Related Articles: Large Polyp Stony CoralsStony or True Corals, Order Scleractinia, Dyed Corals,

/The Best Livestock For Your Reef Aquarium:

Brain, Meat, Pineapple  Corals,  Family Mussidae, pt. 3

To: Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8,

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By Bob Fenner

 

Genus Lobophyllia Blainville 1830. Lobed/Flat Brain Coral. Sometimes massive colonies that tend to be dome-shaped. Flabello-meandroid, meandroid or phaceloid. Large corallites single or joined into meandering units, circular or in long valleys; with distinctive tall, knobby, long septal teeth. Fleshy mantles that can contract entirely (e.g. when exposed to air at low tide). Valleys (columellae) long and deep, often of contrasting lighter color. Tentacles typically light tipped.

Lobophyllia corymbosa (Forsskal 1775). Colonies flat to hemispherical, large in the Red Sea (up to six feet  in diameter). Usually singular corallites, but may have 2, 3 joined together on occasion. Well separated calices. High, blunt septal teeth. Colors are generally greenish or brown, gray, with lighter oral discs; look spiny.  Below: Red Sea broken colony and two groups growing near, close-up, N. Sulawesi
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Lobophyllia flabelliformis Veron 2000. Hemispherical colonies that readily break apart. Very fleshy corallites. Mantle covers all skeletal elements. Fully expanded colonies exhibit papilla that look like small tentacles over septa. Aquarium specimen. 


Lobophyllia hataii Yabe & Sugiyama 1936. Flabello-meandroid at edges of colonies, meandroid in centers. Shallow valleys w/ flat floors. Typically brown or green with contrasting valleys. Bali 2014

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Lobophyllia hemprichii (Ehrenberg 1834). Flat to huge dome-shaped colonies of more than fifteen feet diameter. Elongate, irregular corallites, often with contrasting oral disc color. A common species where found. Easily kept in captivity and fragged. At right, aquarium colony and small colonies from the wild are often marketed at retail. Below, a close up and a colony in Pulau Redang, Malaysia, and a just-picked-up specimen by the author in Fiji. Second row, N. Sulawesi. Third row, specimens in Nuka Hiva, Marquesas, Polynesia.

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Lobophyllia pachysepta Chevalier 1975. Small colonies either flat or hemispherical. Distinctive large lobed, yellowish teeth (handful) per corallite. Gray, green in color. Fiji, N. Sulawesi photos.

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Lobophyllia serratus Veron 2000. Hemispherical colonies of up to six feet across. Meandering corallites bear 2 or 3 mouths. Septa with tall, sharp teeth (evident on dead polyps). Distinctive flattened, tri-colored appearance to living corallites. Hawai'i (Waikiki) aquarium photo.

Lobo's come in many, MANY color variations:

To: Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8,

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