Animalia (Kingdom) - Cnidaria (Phylum) - Anthozoa (Class) - Hexacorallia (Subclass) - Scleractinia (Order) Mussidae (Family) - Manicina (Genus) - Manicina areolata (Species)
Manicina areolata is one of the most common corals in the shallow waters of the Caribbean Sea. It forms hemispherical colonies. Its surface consists of long meandering walls with wide intervening valleys. Manicina is found on soft sediments, cobble or rubble, on fore-reef and back-reef slopes and in sea grass meadows. Usually occurring at depths of less than 10 m (33 ft), being its lower depth limit around 60 m (200 ft).
This model was obtained as a part of a monitoring protocol on the CCRRP restoration area during my Ms thesis on Cozumel Island on 2018 collaborating with Global Coral Reef Alliance.
Pictures were taken with a Sony RX100V camera inside an underwater housing Sony without any artificial light source.
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