#theres efas scattered all over this pic i gave up labeling them all

[linddzz]

I was bored on the flight so because I'm a fucking dork I decided my entertainment would be labeling the corals I identified in the pic. It was gonna be identifying all the ones I could but turned into "what I could fit on the photo" bc the diversity in this shot is wonderful.

So now I'm gonna introduce y'all to how we get around the fact that you may have noticed that both the species names and the common names for these things are long, take up space, and are just a pain to write out. To get around this abbreviations are used with the first letter of the genus and the first three letters of the species, which is simpler and ends up even used in conversation so you'll hear things like "wow there was a lot of DLAB on that dive that all looked really good!" It also really helps with memorizing the species, since the abbreviation is easier to learn and from that you can get an idea of the genus and species.

(it also leads to hilarity as you see people decide if they're going to say PSTR as "piss-ter" or chicken out and say "p-star." Most settle on an in between "p-stirr" but I've seen that internal battle take place so many times.)

So from the above list we have.

CNAT = Boulder Brain Coral (C. natans)

Plume Gorgonian (Pseudopterogorgia spp) not abbreviated here since I couldn't be 100% on the species.

DLAB = Grooved Brain Coral (D. Labyrinthiformis)

PAST = Mustard Hill Coral (P. astreoides)

OANN = Boulder Star Coral (O. annularis)

MCAV = Great Star Coral (M. cavernosa)

EFAS = Smooth Flower Coral (E. fastigiata)

MALC = Branching Fire Coral (M. alcicornis)

MAUR = Pencil Coral (M. auretenra) (maybe, I zoomed in and squinted and think it's there)

Boulder brain coral (Colpophyllia natans)

Sea Plume gorgonian (Pseudopterogorgia sp) ((I think it's americanus but gorgonians are a pain for ID))

Grooved brain coral (Diploria labyrinthiformis)

Mustard hill coral (Porites astreoides)

Boulder star coral (Orbicella annularis)

-Bonus Background Corals Bc I wanna See How Much I Can ID For Funsies-

Great star coral (Montastrea cavernosa)

Smooth Flower Coral (Eusmilia fastigiata)

Branching fire coral (Millepora alcicornis)