Lobophyllia hemprichii
species of cnidarian
Lobophyllia hemprichii, commonly called lobed brain coral, lobed cactus coral or largebrain root coral, is a species of large polyp stony coral in the family Lobophylliidae. It is found in the Indo-Pacific Ocean. In its specific name Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg honoured his late partner the Prussian naturalist Wilhelm Hemprich; they were among the first to study the marine life of the Red Sea.
Description
Lobophyllia hemprichii is a colonial species of coral that may form hemispherical or flattened mounds up to 5 m (16 ft) in diameter. Several adjacent colonies, sometimes of different colours, may grow together to form a composite colony. The corralites (skeletal cups) may be phaceloid (having a tubular form and growing from a common base) or flabello-meandroid (arranged in valleys with the neighbouring valleys each having a ridge, with the valleys dividing irregularly). Each corallite has a number of septa (vertical blades inside the corallite cup) which taper in thickness and have tall sharp teeth. This coral is some shade of grey, pink, violet or yellowish-brown, sometimes a uniform colour or sometimes with contrasting regions. L. hemprichii is a zooxanthellate coral, having single-celled photosynthesizing organisms known as dinoflagellates living within the tissues. Photosynthesis of these protists provides the coral with nutrients.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1867091. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lobophyllia hemprichii” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.