If corals had characters, then the Paragoniastrea australensis would be described as feisty, or even downright aggressive when it comes to asserting itself over its neighbours. Long sweeper tentacles come out at night to sting anything in the vicinity. You can read more about that unneighbourly behaviour, here: ‘While you were sleeping’..

It also goes by the names Australian brain coral and lesser star coral. It’s a stony, massive coral that is also slow growing (around 6 mm a year on the Great Barrier Reef) but can also be encrusting, in that it can grow and spread over the substrate.

As you can see, above, these corals can vary hugely in colour depending on the symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) that live inside each coral polyp.