Small Knob Coral

About

The small knob coral (Plesiastrea versipora) has one of the widest natural ranges of any reef-building coral, stretching from Japan down to Australia and across from South Africa all the way to Easter Island. In the wild it shows up in a broad range of reef settings, but it has a particular affinity for dimmer, sheltered spots. Under ledges, beneath overhangs, and along shaded reef walls. It also turns up on temperate rocky coastlines where calmer, wave-protected conditions allow it to establish. Colony form is typically flat or gently lobed, and while specimens in cooler, higher-latitude waters can grow impressively large, tropical colonies tend to stay more modest in size. The individual corallites are small, just a few millimeters across, and are arranged with tidy rings of paliform lobes around compact columellae. Coloration shifts depending on where the colony originates. Tropical specimens usually run pale, in creams and soft yellows, while those from higher latitudes tend toward richer greens and browns. Tentacles are occasionally visible during the day and come in two alternating sizes. In the aquarium this is an intermediate-level coral that appreciates moderate flow and solid lighting, and its tolerance for lower-light zones gives it some flexibility in placement that more demanding SPS corals don't offer.