Brain Corals (Family Faviidae)

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Cnidaria

Class: Anthozoa

Order: Scleractinia

Suborder: Faviina

Family: Faviidae

With their steroid shape and grooved surface, these hard corals closely resemble brains. Brain corals secrete a hard skeleton of calcium carbonate (obtained from minerals they get from the ocean water), which makes them important coral reef builders. Brain corals extend their tentacles to catch food at night. During the day, the brain corals use their tentacles for protection by wrapping them over the grooves on their surface. The surface is hard and offers good protection against predators. Like other genera of corals, brain corals feed on small drifting animals. They also receive nutrients provided by the algae which live within their tissues.

They usually live in shallow warm-water coral reefs all over the oceans in the world, with relatively long lifespans of more than 100 years. They can be very colourful, which attracts many divers, as well as fishes as they life permanently on the coral. Fishes include gobies, another interesting marine organism we found at Pulau Semakau.