Rose Coral

M. areolata is a colonial coral. Budding is intracalicular, occurring within the whorl of tentacles of the polyp. The corallites are arranged in a meandroid fashion, which means there are a series of linked centres in broad valleys, often 10 to 15 mm (0.4 to 0.6 in) wide, giving the colony the appearance of the surface of a human brain. The polyps share an elongate oral disc with the tentacles round the rim.

M. areolata is native to the tropical and subtropical West Atlantic Ocean. Its range includes the southern half of the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, southern Florida, the Bahamas and Bermuda. It is found on soft sediments, cobble or rubble, on fore-reef and back-reef slopes and in sea grass meadows. Usually occurring at depths of less than 10 m (33 ft), its lower depth limit is around 60 m (200 ft). The massive form is found on reefs attached to rocks but the unattached form is found on areas of broken coral fragments and on sandy or muddy substrates including lagoons and turtle grass (Thalassia testudinum) meadows.

The unattached cone-shaped form of Manicina areolata can right itself if overturned by a fish, current or wave action. The polyps have pleats and muscles in the mesentries which enable them to extend further from the corallite than can small-polyp corals. This gives them the facility to inflate the body cavity with water, enabling the polyps to swell up and dislodge sediment, and even turn the colony over if this proves necessary. It does this by inflating itself by filling its interior with water and then emitting jets of water on one side to make the whole structure topple over. It is a slow process and is more difficult to achieve as the coral grows larger. This may be the reason that this coral seldom exceeds a diameter of 10 cm (4 in).

Rose coral is tolerant of a wide range of salinities and temperature variations and some degree of sedimentation. It is a common species and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated it as being of "least concern".