Kapoho tidepool, Hawai'i

Kewalo, O'ahu, 50 feet

Hale'iwa Trench, O'ahu, 10 feet

Hale'iwa Trench, O'ahu, 50 feet

Kewalo Pipe, O'ahu, 50 feet

Hale'iwa Trench, O'ahu, 40 feet

cropped images above

Kewalo Pipe, Oahu, 50 feet

Makai Pier, Oahu, 10 feet

P. varians & P. maldivensis

Pupukea, O'ahu, 35 feet

Common on reefs at any depth.  Variable, encrusting or irregular mounds, sometimes with contorted nodules, or plate-like on shaded vertical surfaces.  Corallites prominent in valleys between sharp maze-like ridges, ridges occasionally limited to a few short segments.  Color typically golden brown, occasionally green, rust, dark gray, or mottled in turbid environments.  Hawaii, Indo-Pacific & Tropical Eastern Pacific.

All coral skeletons illustrated are from scientific collections taken prior to 1998.