It easily took hundreds...of years to form this brain coral
This is a photo of a massive colony of brain coral taken in Key Largo, Florida. In fact, this was the largest colony I knew about in the whole Florida Keys reef tract, until it’s recent death. This whole colony of brain coral perished within two years.
It easily took hundreds or maybe even thousands of years to form. It was sad to watch the coral disease work its way across the colony, eating away the live tissue and leaving the white calcium carbonate skeleton behind.
If you know me, you know I’m a sucker for black and white photography. So that was one of the reasons I chose this photo. I also like this photo because although it doesn’t show the entire coral, you can tell by the perspective that it is a very big coral. I like big corals and I cannot lie.
Did You Know?
- The dome of this species of coral can grow to be up to six feet in diameter!
- It can be found in the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
- They only grow by about 1 centimeter per year. Those that are a meter in diameter will have been growing for more than a century!
- This species of brain coral is typically yellowish or greenish brown (and occasionally blue-grey) due to the symbiotic dinoflagellate alga that live in its tissues.
0 Comments