The brain coral (Diploria clivosa) colony pictured above featured several areas ranging in size from 3-6 cm that exhibited very unusual cauliflower-like tissue expansion with warty protuberances. The photo was taken offshore of South Beach, Miami, Florida.

Pictured above is the normal ‘meandroid’ growth form for the brain coral Diploria clivosa. The tissue is relatively compact against the skeleton and the tentacles are visible along the inner walls of the grooves.

I picked up a lot of free promotional material at the ICRS (my personal favorite being a 6 foot National Geographic world map detailing where all the worlds coral reefs are). This little post card advertising the 2nd Asia-Pacific Coral Reef Symposium really caught my eye. A perfectly-balanced tabular Acropora with a staghorn Acropora species growing in the center. Most excellent.