Observational study documents a novel coral growth form in a specific reef environment, suggesting ecological adaptation.
This study documents a previously unreported columnar growth form of starlet corals (Siderastreidae: Siderastrea ) on shallow-mesophotic, turbid-zone reefs of the Abrolhos Bank, southwestern Atlantic. Photogrammetry and computed tomography reveal that these multi-centennial, continuous colonies likely represent a vertical escape strategy to cope with sediment dynamics, while also constituting valuable archives of past environmental variability.
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Moura et al. (2026) studied this question.
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