Typical form, Shark's Cove, Oahu, 30 feet

Kahe Point, Oahu, Hawaii, 20 feet

Kahe Point, Oahu, Hawaii, 20 feet

cropped image

Kahe Point, Oahu, 25 feet

Kapoho tidepool, Hawaii, 3 feet

Sharks Cove, Oahu, 25 feet

Haleiwa Trench, Oahu, 25 feet

Sharks Cove, Oahu, 25 feet

Sharks Cove, Oahu, 25 feet

Sharks Cove, Oahu, 25 feet

Haleiwa Trench, Oahu, 40 feet

Common at scuba depths.  Forms large mounds and encrustations on elevated surfaces.  Deep calices surrounded by ring of points and a narrow groove separating each calyx.  Granulated septa of 3 sizes.  Color variable, usually golden or greenish brown.  Leptastrea purpurea has smooth borders between calices and smooth septa of nearly uniform size.  Hawaii & the Indo-Pacific.

All coral skeletons illustrated are from scientific collections taken prior to 1998.