madrepore
Madrepora latin

There are said to be oversized madrepore species growing in turbid waters, according to diving reports.

Close up, it is visibly structured, resembling a "madrepore" (stone coral, Scleractinia) colony.

Madrepore ("mother of pores") is a genus of stony corals, often found forming reefs or islands in tropical locations.

The species of benthic invertebrates are those which arouse greater interest since they are enriched by a great variety of forms and colours due to the abundance of Coelenterati (sea anemones, madrepore and corals).

There were also recorded dead corals of genera Madrepora and Lophelia.

Madrepora oculata produces large amounts of mucus that is extracellular or outside the cell membranes.

Madrepora (stone corals)

Madrepora arbuscula (Moseley, 1881)

Madrepora carolina (Pourtalès, 1871)

Haliclona madrepora (Dendy, 1889)

One of them, the Therese Mound, is particularly noted for its Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata colonies.

Madrepora oculata occurs as deep as 2,020 m and is one of a dozen species that occur globally and in all oceans, including the Subantarctic (Cairns, 1982).

Houttuyn gave the species name as Madrepora natans, which was later included in the genus Colpophyllia, by Henri Milne-Edwards and Jules Haime, 1848.

Madrepora oculata, also called zigzag coral, is a Scleractinia (stony coral) that is found worldwide outside of the polar regions, growing in deep water at depths of 80-1500 meters.

The first instances of seeming neoplasms in a coral were reported in a species of Madrepora in Hawaiian waters in which hypertrophied corallites or skeletons in the coral were noted.

Similarly hypertrophied corallites were described in colonies of Madrepora oculata near northwestern Australia and Japan, as well as in the Formosa Strait and other areas, but have never been confirmed.

Calcium Carbonate Matrix, Coral Calcium, Coralline Hydroxyapatite, Goniopora species, Madrepora species, Marine Coral, Porites species, Sea Coral.

In the north Atlantic, the principal coral species that contribute to reef formation are Lophelia pertusa, Oculina varicosa, Madrepora oculata, Desmophyllum cristagalli, Enallopsammia rostrata, Solenosmilia variabilis, and Goniocorella dumosa.

A number of the seamounts are also home to extensive deep water coral forests, made up of Solenosmilia variabilis and Madrepora oculata, both species not known to be of wide extent near New Zealand until camera surveys of Graveyard Seamounts in 2001 revealed their and extent.