Spiny Plate Coral

About

The spiny plate coral (Echinopora lamellosa) is a sheet-forming LPS coral that builds its colonies in sweeping, layered whorls or tiers. Almost like stacked, overlapping discs rising from the substrate. In the wild, colonies can span well over five metres across, sometimes becoming one of the dominant organisms across wide stretches of shallow, flat reef habitat. Up close, the corallites are small, measuring only a few millimetres in diameter, with relatively thin walls and compact columellae, giving the surface a fine, detailed texture. Coloration tends toward ambers, pale to dark browns, and greens, often with the individual calices showing a contrasting darker hue that adds subtle depth to the colony. In a home reef, it needs moderate light and moderate flow to thrive. Nothing too intense on either front. Care is rated intermediate, so this isn't the best choice for a brand-new reefkeeper, but it's approachable once you have a stable system and a handle on the basics. It is considered reef safe. Because of its plating, spreading growth form, placement matters: give it enough room to expand laterally without crowding neighbors, and keep it off the sandbed where sediment can smother its lower edges.