This is Lobactis scutaria or Mushroom coral
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Aloha everyone! What is this? This is Lobactis scutaria, or mushroom coral and can sometimes be referred to as razor coral.
This type of coral falls in the family of Fungiidae. It is a stony coral species and is easily recognized in the Hawaiian waters. Unlike most corals, it is non-colonial (meaning only 1 coral polyp and not a colony of polyps). They are eventually free living and not attached to the ocean floor. As juveniles, they attach to a surface and will feed and grow their hard skeleton. Once larger, as adults, they will detach from their base and drift/move around on the ocean floor. When they move, they can leave small pieces of tissue behind. These tiny pieces left behind will eventually grow into another mushroom coral.
It has an oval shape and radiating calcareous ribs, known as septa. These septa give the coral its mushroom like appearance and it can be very sharp. This sharpness leads to the other known name o razor coral. The ribs/septa have unlobed teeth as well as tentacle lobes in the areas where the ribs divide. There are rows of tiny spines that continue outward. The polyp itself can be up to almost 7 inches long and lives in the center area of the coral. It has a central slit-like mouth and a small amount of short tentacles.
This coral can collect particles dropping from the sea water. They have cilia that will carry the food particles to the mouth and the debris out to the edges so they can be discarded. Like other corals they have zooxanthellae (a type of algae which resides within the coral’s cells) to utilize the sun and photosynthesize. This produces food and energy to create and build their skeleton. They can also be carnivorous and will catch plankton, shrimps, and even fish with their tentacles.
The Hawaiian word for Mushroom coral is Ko’A-Kohe. This dense coral was commonly used by ancient Hawaiians. They found it to be abrasive and good to polish canoes. They also utilized it to rub the hairs/bristles off of pigs before they were cooked.
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