Flowerpot corals  (Goniopora spp.)

The appearance of this pretty coral belies its aggressive behaviour. Many individual coral polyps, (anemone-like animals that secrete a skeleton), form colonies which join together at the base of their skeletons. These colonies grow to form branches, columns, solid colonies that are dome-shaped, or colonies that adhere close to the substrate (2). Colonies may be meters across and sometimes whole sections of a reef face are covered exclusively by one branching Goniopora species (3). One Goniopora species, daisy coral, is named for its extremely large, flower-like polyps, and can grow to cover areas of six to ten meters (4). Each polyp has 24 long and fleshy tentacles that are normally extended day and night (2), although these quickly retract when touched revealing the massive skeletons beneath (4). Each Goniopora species differs in the shape and colour of their polyps, which allows their identification underwater (2).