False knob coral

About this species

Montastraea is a genus of colonial stony coral found in the Caribbean seas. It is the only genus in the monotypic family Montastraeidae and contains a single species, Montastraea cavernosa, known as great star coral. It forms into massive boulders and sometimes develops into plates. Its polyps are the size of a human thumb and fully extend at night.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Montastraea”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 488 records
February: 585 records
March: 927 records
April: 716 records
May: 1,650 records
June: 2,793 records
July: 2,346 records
August: 3,473 records
September: 2,981 records
October: 4,353 records
November: 2,257 records
December: 2,226 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 5–29 m · Deepest record: 666 m

0–10 m: 7,197 records
10–20 m: 12,451 records
20–30 m: 2,674 records
30–40 m: 962 records
40–50 m: 606 records
50–60 m: 302 records
60–70 m: 201 records
70–80 m: 178 records
80–90 m: 48 records
90–100 m: 39 records
100–110 m: 24 records
110+ m: 9 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 23–29 °C

22–24 °C: 1 records
24–26 °C: 53 records
26–28 °C: 635 records
28–30 °C: 231 records

Photos

(c) Alex Doyle, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Alex Doyle · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Alex Doyle, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Alex Doyle · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Alex Doyle, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Alex Doyle · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) João D'Andretta, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Alex Doyle, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Alex Doyle, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) SiphonophoreSlinger, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: False knob coral, Great star coral, Cavernous Star Coral, false knob coral, Greater Star Coral, great star coral, large-cupped boulder coral, large star coral

Names in 3 more languages

German: Große Sternkoralle
Spanish: Coral Cavernoso Macizo, Gran Coral de Estrellas
French: Grand corail étoile, Grand Corail Étoilé

Other scientific names: Astraea (Orbicella) argus, Astraea (Orbicella) radiata, Astraea astroites, Astraea endothecata, Astraea radiata, Astrea argus, Astrea cavernosa, Astrea conferta, Astrea radiata, Astroites denticulatus, Explanaria argus, Explanaria radiata, Favia cavernosa, Heliastraea cavernosa, Heliastraea conferta, Heliastraea cylindrica, Heliastraea endothecata, Heliastraea radiata, Heliastrea radiata, Madrepora astroides, Madrepora astroites, Madrepora cavernosa, Madrepora denticularis, Madrepora radiata, Matrepora radiata, Montastraea brasiliana, Montastrea braziliana, Montastrea cavernata, Montastrea cavernosa, Orbicella argus

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).
26,733 open-data records from 1900 to 2024.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.