Coral growth forms - The Great Fiji Butterflyfish Count

Hard corals come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours.

Coral shapes

Hard corals

(clockwise from top right): Branching, Boulder, Leafy, Finger, Mushroom, Encrusting, Table.

Illustration showing coral shapes from “Corals of the World” by Jen Veron
ISBN 0-642-32236-8 Painting by Geoff Kelly

As a basic rule of thumb if coral is coloured it is alive.

Dead coral is white or grey.

Some corals excrete a soft, leathery skin rather than a rocky skeleton.

These are called soft or leather corals.

Photos of leather corals from:
“Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide” Allen & Steene, ISBN 981-00-5687-7

GCRMN reports show that Fiji is currently in the best coral health it has seen in at least 10 years.

See the full GCRMN 2006 Report here.

Fiji has great Biodiversity with 1,200 species of reef fish and more than 200 coral species.

A Guide to Angelfishes and Butterflyfishes
Author: Gerald R Allen, Roger Steene, Mark Allen.
ISBN 0-9661720-1-9

Reef Fish Identification – Tropical Pacific
Author: Gerald Allen, Roger Steene, Paul Human
ISBN: 978-1878348364

Reef Fishes of the World
Authors: Lieske and Myers,
ISBN: 978-0691089959

Author: Terrence M. Gosliner, David W. Behrens
ISBN: 978-0930118211

Josh Jensen and Liz Harlin