Spooky!
Personally, I think brain coral already look pretty spooky. Who wants to look at brains besides you're watching horror flicks or being a brain surgeon? I'll tell you, Diploria labyrinthiformis sure have some odd things about them and they sure make some scary friends too!
Diploria labyrinthiformis like to produce sexually. As you can see they cannot just get up and find a mate, so all at once they release their sperm and eggs into the water column. This doesn't seem that spooky since fish do this too, right? And flowers release their pollen and seeds into the air as well. Brain coral are a little different. They like to wait until a full moon to let them know that their ready to reproduce!
These guys are the werewolves of the sea with their lunar cycling! They live the nightlife constantly eating, get funky on full moons, and hang out with some really shady guys. When I was down snorkeling in Key Largo, Florida, brain coral were always surrounded by some scary organisms. Even though they may have been harmless they still put on a good show! One of the weirdest creatures that has stayed the same most of its life was the horseshoe crab.
You may be thinking he's not so bad, riding around on that females back all
day. But have you ever seen one of these guys up close?
Click
here if you dare! I also got to see a few other organisms hanging
around Diploria labyrinthiformis. This one is called the southern
stingray.
Believe me, you wouldn't want to get stung by this guy! He was pretty big
and definitely guarding his and his brain corals territory. So if
these guys don't seem too scary to you then this last one definitely will.
These guys may be harmless, but they scared the color out of me when I first
saw them! When I saw my first barracuda he was about 6 feet long and
looked mean as ever. Check it out!
On top of that look at the filth these guys live in! That's a nightmare in itself! If you want to learn more about the coral bleaching environment click here to go to that page!
Here's a few more spooky friends I found that you can feel free to check out!
