DiscoverSpeciesCorals and anemones
Double-star coral
Diploastrea heliopora
- Usual depth5–16 m
- Water temperature13–30 °C
- Best monthsMarch, July, and August
- How commonOccasional
Photo credit: (c) Ryan McMinds, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
Diploastrea heliopora, commonly known as diploastrea brain coral or honeycomb coral among other vernacular names, is a species of hard coral in the family Diploastreidae. It is the only extant species in its genus. This species can form massive dome-shaped colonies of great size.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Diploastrea heliopora”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 130 records
- February: 131 records
- March: 217 records
- April: 167 records
- May: 187 records
- June: 156 records
- July: 211 records
- August: 233 records
- September: 169 records
- October: 162 records
- November: 150 records
- December: 106 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 5–16 m · Deepest record: 56 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 13–30 °C
Photos
(c) Ryan McMinds, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Donald Davesne, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Borja Fierro-Leva, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) Nicola Crockford, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Ashwin Srinivasan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Jay Brasher, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Double-star coral, Flowery star coral, Honeycomb coral, double-star coral, flowery star coral, honeycomb coral
Names in 5 more languages
- German
- Blumensternkoralle
- French
- Corail rayonnant
- Japanese
- ダイオウサンゴ
- Thai
- ปะการังดาวใหญ่
- Simplified Chinese
- 同雙星珊瑚
Other scientific names: Acanthastrea patula, Astraea (Fissicella) heliopora, Astraea (Orbicella) glaucopis, Astraea (Orbicella) glaucopsis, Astraea (Orbicella) patula, Astraea glaucopsis, Astraea heliopora, Astrea glaucopis, Astrea heliopora, Astrea patula, Diploastraea heliopora, Diploastrea glaucopsis, Diploastrea patula, Heliastrea heliopora, Orbicella glaucopsis, Orbicella heliopora, Orbicella minikoensis, Orbicella minikoiensis, Orbicella patula
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 1,182 open-data records from 1816 to 2019.
- Species data updated November 2, 2026.
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