''Meandrina meandrites'', commonly known as maze coral, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

stony coral Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc in which a mo ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Meandrinidae The Meandrinidae are a family of stony corals. The name comes from the Greek, ''maiandros'' meaning "meandering", referring to the miniature, winding valleys found between the corallites. Fossil corals in this family have been found dating back t ...

. It is found primarily on outer

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. C ...

slopes in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

and the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

Description

''Meandrina meandrites'' forms massive hemispherical heads or develops into substantial flat plates and can grow to nearly in diameter. Some small colonies are cone-shaped and are not attached to the substrate. These resemble young colonies of rose coral ('' Manicina areolata'') and may be found in sandy or muddy areas some way from reefs. The corallites, the calcareous cups secreted by the polyps, are wide. The raised walls between the corallites are formed from fine but widely separated transverse ridges called

septa The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five c ...

and meander over the surface of the coral. There is a slight indentation running along the crest of the walls where the septa from adjoining corallites meet. The polyps are large but are only protruded at night when they cover and obscure the skeleton of the coral.

Distribution and habitat

''Meandrina meandrites'' is found in

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

. It mainly occurs on the seaward sides of reefs but does also occur on back slopes. Its favoured depth range is but it occurs at any depth less than . It tolerates locations with high levels of sedimentation and turbidity. It is generally the coral most frequently seen in the deeper parts of its range.

Status

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists ''Meandrina meandrites'' as being of "

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

". This is because, although it is effected by

coral bleaching Coral bleaching is the process when corals become white due to various stressors, such as changes in temperature, light, or nutrients. Bleaching occurs when coral polyps expel the zooxanthellae ( dinoflagellates that are commonly referred to as a ...

, it is more resistant than some other species and usually recovers. It is also subject to coral diseases such as white plague and

black band disease Black band disease is a coral disease in which corals develop a black band. It is characterized by complete tissue degradation due to a pathogenic microbial consortium. The mat is present between apparently healthy coral tissue and freshly expo ...

. Another factor that helps to maintain populations is the high level of recruitment of juvenile corals which is in contrast to the recruitment failures of the pineapple coral (''

Dichocoenia stokesi ''Dichocoenia'' is a monotypic genus of stony coral in the family Meandrinidae. It is represented by a single species, ''Dichocoenia stokesii'', which is commonly known as pineapple coral, elliptical star coral, or pancake star coral. It is found ...

''). The chief threats it faces, as do other reef corals, are raised sea temperatures,

ocean acidification Ocean acidification is the reduction in the pH value of the Earth’s ocean. Between 1751 and 2021, the average pH value of the ocean surface has decreased from approximately 8.25 to 8.14. The root cause of ocean acidification is carbon dioxid ...

and reef destruction. It is present in a number of marine parks which gives it some level of protection.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3322586 Meandrinidae Corals described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus