Coral IDC: Agaricidae |

Research Station Carmabi

Coral ID Curacao: Agaricidae

Coral Identification for Curacaoan coral species (permanently under construction)

This set of pictures aims to show the differences between coral species that are often “mistaken” for one another. Because terminology to describe each species is often subjective (i.e. has larger polyps or smaller ridges) having both species in one picture might help to get a better idea of how such closely related/ similar looking “species” can be distinguished from one another. Be aware that for the purpose of this page, we use the “conversational species concept”, which is simply intended to describe the variation that exists in morphological features of Caribbean corals around Curacao.

For Montastraea corals (“star corals”)
For Agaricid corals (“plating corals”) see below
For braincorals (well….)
For everything else,
Agaricidae

Agaricia agaricites morphotypes Westpunt april 2009 (81)

Color variations of Agaricia agaricites: with orange mouths (left), with green tentacle tips (right)

AAGR1 vs AAGR2

Color variations of Agaricia agaricites: without orange mouths (left), with orange mouths (right)

Agaricia agaricites vs Agaricia grahamae

Agaricia agaricites (left) and Agaricia grahamae (right)

Helioseris cucculata (left) and Agaricia agaricites (right)

Agaricia lamarcki vs Agaricia grahamae

Agaricia grahamae (left) and Agaricia lamarcki (right)

AGRA vs ALAM(1)

Agaricia grahamae (left) and Agaricia lamarcki (right)

Agaricia lamarcki vs Helioseris cucculata

Agaricia lamarcki (left) and Helioseris cucculata (right)

Helioseris cucculata (left) and Agaricia lamarcki (right)

Different colormourhs of Agaricia lamarcki. Natural colormorphs are shown on the right, whereas a recently bleached colony is seen on the bottom left.