Solitary Disk Coral / Artichoke Coral

The mangroves of St. John are home to many creatures that usually only inhabit deeper water. These Solitary Disk Corals are one example. The Green Tube tunicate is another. It is difficult to identifying disk corals because there are no reliable visual ways of telling one species from another. These are most likely Solitary Disk Corals and Artichoke Coral because of their size, 1- 1.5 inches in diameter.  The Solitary Disc Coral has cylindrical projections in the center of the disk. (Pics 1-6) The last two pictures may be an Artichoke Coral because of it's more spike shaped projections.

A new 'Bud".

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