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| hard corals text index | photo index |
| Phylum Cnidaria > Class Anthozoa > Subclass Zoantharia/Hexacorallia > Order Scleractinia > Family Poritidae |
| Boulder
pore coral Porites sp.* Family Poritidae updated Nov 11 Where seen? This often large boulder-shaped hard coral with tiny corallites and polyps is commonly seen on many of our shores. Features: Colonies 10-20cm, sometimes much larger, boulder-shaped sometimes with bumps or hillocks. Corallites tiny (0.1-0.2cm) hexagonal, packed close to one another. The tiny corallites are shallow and don't stick out of the surface. The surface thus often appears smooth with many tiny pores. Polyps are very tiny (0.1-0.2cm) with short body columns and short tentacles that are usually only extended at night. Colour usually a chocolate brown, also greenish. Usually the colony is of one uniform colour. Sometimes, colonies are seen with pink patches, which appear to be the result of some sort of animal burrowing into the living colony. Pore corals are among the intetidal corals that form a typical ring called microatolls due to the low water level on the intertidal which restricts upward growth. Sometimes, another colony of corals may grow in the space within the ring. |
 St. John's Island, Aug 08  Tiny corallites. |
 Pore coral forming a ring-shaped microatoll with another colony in the middle. Cyrene Reef, Jul 11 |
 Tiny polyps. |
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 A burrowing animal? |
 A burrowing animal? |
 A burrowing animal? |
Boulder pore corals on Singapore shores
 Sisters Island, Jan 06 |
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 Chek Jawa, Aug 05 |
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 Beting Bronok, Aug 05 |
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more photos of boulder pore corals on Singapore shores
northern shores part 1 | part 2
southern shores part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9 | part 10
*Species are difficult to positively identify without close examination.
On this website, they are grouped by external features for convenience of display.
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