When it grows in fast-flowing, shallow water, Porites astreoides is encrusting but in calmer water at medium depths it is a massive coral with a smooth, mounded, semi-spherical form and can grow to 60 centimetres (24 in) … See more

Porites astreoides is found growing in shallow water on reefs in the Caribbean Sea and in the western-central and southwestern Atlantic Ocean in the Caribbean region … See more

Porites astreoides often has the sponge Mycale laevis, with prominent osculi, growing on its underside. This coral is also often associated with See more

The polyps of Porites astreoides feed mostly at night, extending their tentacles to catch zooplankton and bacteria. The coral also obtains an important part of its nutritional needs as a result of the photosynthesis performed by the zooxanthellae in … See more