Grooved Brain Coral

This species of reef-building coral has a hemispherical, brain-like shape with a brown, yellow, or grey colour. It has characteristic deep, interconnected double-valleys. These polyp-bearing valleys are each separated by grooved ambulacral ridges. There may be a difference in colour between the valleys and the grooves.

Diploria labyrinthiformis can grow upward at a rate of approximately 3.5 millimeters per year, achieving about 2 metres (6.6 feet) in diameter. During its planktonic larval stage, the coral has locomotion. After that time, it becomes permanently sessile.

Diploria labyrinthiformis is found in tropical parts of the west Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, the southern tip of Florida, the Bahamas, Bermuda and the coasts of Central America.

This coral occurs offshore at depths ranging from 1 to 30 metres (3.3 to 98.4 feet).

The Diploria coral is important to its environment because it helps researchers see how the oceans temperature has changed over time by looking at the layers in the coral skeleton.

Despite the polyps being equipped with nematocysts, various species prey upon Diploria labyrinthiformis. These include:

Diploria labyrinthiformis is hermaphroditic, employing a broadcast-spawning method to reproduce. As with most coral species, timing of gamete release is related to moon cycles. Exact timing of this event can vary, even within its regional range, but is typically earlier in the year than many other scleractinian species in the Caribbean

This species was listed as Least Concern for years on the IUCN Red List. However, the most recent assessment in 2021 has resulted in a sudden uplisting due to the species' predicted decline, in part due to its susceptibility to stony coral tissue loss disease.