Banana coral

Trachyphyllia geoffroyi

Corals and anemones
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth3–42 m
Water temperature21–29 °C
Best monthsSeptember
How commonOccasional

About this species

The open brain coral is a brightly colored free-living coral species in the family Merulinidae. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Trachyphyllia and can be found throughout the Indo-Pacific, and in the fossil record of Florida.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Open brain coral”, 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: 16 records
February: 14 records
March: 0 records
April: 4 records
May: 6 records
June: 5 records
July: 1 records
August: 0 records
September: 32 records
October: 10 records
November: 15 records
December: 0 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 3–42 m · Deepest record: 616 m

0–10 m: 20 records
10–20 m: 19 records
20–30 m: 27 records
30–40 m: 17 records
40–50 m: 5 records
50–60 m: 2 records
60–70 m: 2 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 1 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 21–29 °C

20–22 °C: 1 records
22–24 °C: 3 records
24–26 °C: 78 records
26–28 °C: 102 records
28–30 °C: 58 records

Names and classification

English: Banana coral, Open brain coral, banana coral, Blue Green Coral, open brain coral

Names in 3 more languages

French: Trachyphyllia
Japanese: ヒユサンゴ
Simplified Chinese: 蜿蜒曲紋珊瑚

Other scientific names: Antillia duncani, Antillia flabelliformis, Antillia geoffroyi, Antillia infundibuliformis, Antillia orientalis, Antillophyllia flabelliformis, Antillophyllia geoffroyi, Callogyra formosa, Manicina amarantum, Trachyphyllia amarantum, Trachyphyllia amarantus, Trachyphyllia lelandi, Trachyphyllia radiata, Trachyphyllia stricta, Turbinolia geoffroyi, Wellsophyllia geoffroyi, Wellsophyllia radiata

Similar species

Lesser knob coral
Cyphastrea serailia
knob coral
Dipsastraea speciosa
Hedgehog coral
Echinopora lamellosa
false knob coral
Astrea curta
Head Coral
Dipsastraea favus
knob coral
Dipsastraea pallida

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).
378 open-data records from 1826 to 2005.

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