About Orbicella annularis (Ellis & Solander, 1786)
Orbicella annularis, commonly called the Boulder star coral, is a coral species found in the western Atlantic Ocean. To date, it is the most thoroughly studied and the most abundant reef-building coral species in the Caribbean, and it has an extensive fossil record within the region. For a long time, this species complex was considered a generalist that occurs at depths ranging from 0 to 80 metres (0 to 262 ft). It grows into different colony shapes including heads, columns, and plates, in response to different light conditions. Only recently, molecular techniques have confirmed that what was originally classified as O. annularis is actually a complex of at least three distinct species: O. annularis, O. faveolata, and O. franksi. This coral was first formally described under the name Montastraea annularis.
