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Related FAQs: Mussids, Mussids 2, Mussid Identification, Mussid Behavior, Mussid Compatibility, Mussid Selection, Mussid Disease, Mussid Systems, Mussid Feeding, Mussid Reproduction, Stony/True Coral, Coral System Set-Up, Coral System Lighting, Stony Coral Identification, Stony Coral Selection, Coral Placement, Foods/Feeding/Nutrition, Disease/Health, Propagation, Growing Reef Corals, Stony Coral Behavior, Related Articles: Large Polyp Stony Corals, Stony or True Corals, Order Scleractinia, Dyed Corals, /The Best Livestock For Your Reef Aquarium: Brain, Meat, Pineapple Corals, Family Mussidae, pt. 3 To: Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, |
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| By Bob Fenner | |
Genus Lobophyllia Blainville 1830. Lobed/Flat Brain Coral. Sometimes massive colonies that tend to be dome-shaped. Flabello-meandroid or phaceloid. Large corallites with distinctive knobby, long septal teeth. Valleys (columellae) long and deep, often of contrasting lighter color. Tentacles typically light tipped. | Lobophyllia corymbosa (Forskal 1775). Colonies flat to hemispherical, large in the Red Sea (up to six feet in diameter). Well separated calices. High, blunt septal teeth. Colors are generally greenish or brown, gray, with lighter oral discs; look spiny. Below, first row: Red Sea broken colony and two groups growing near, close-up, and younger colonies in Fiji. Second row: N. Sulawesi |
| Lobophyllia flabelliformis Veron 2000. Hemispherical colonies that readily break apart. Very fleshy corallites. Mantle covers all skeletal elements. Fully expanded colonies exhibit papilla that look like small tentacles over septa. Aquarium specimen. | 
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| Lobophyllia hemprichii (Ehrenberg 1834). Flat to huge dome-shaped colonies of more than fifteen feet diameter. Elongate to irregular corallites, often with contrasting oral disc color. A common species where found. Easily kept in captivity and fragged. At right, aquarium colony and small colonies from the wild are often marketed at retail. Below, a close up and a colony in Pulau Redang, Malaysia, and a just-picked-up specimen by the author in Fiji. Second row, N. Sulawesi. Third row, specimens in Nuka Hiva, Marquesas, Polynesia. |  
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| Lobophyllia pachysepta Chevalier 1975. Small colonies either flat or hemispherical. Distinctive large lobed, yellowish teeth (handful) per corallite. Gray, green in color. Fiji, N. Sulawesi photos. |  
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| Lobophyllia serratus Veron 2000. Hemispherical colonies of up to six feet across. Meandering corallites bear 2 or 3 mouths. Septa with tall, sharp teeth (evident on dead polyps). Distinctive flattened, tri-colored appearance to living corallites. Hawai'i (Waikiki) aquarium photo. | 
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| Lobo's come in many, MANY color variations: | 
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To: Part 1, Part 2, Part 4,
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