Orbicella annularis

Orbicella annularis, commonly known as the Boulder star coral, is a species of coral that lives in the western Atlantic Ocean and is the most thoroughly studied and most abundant species of reef-building coral in the Caribbean to date. It also has a comprehensive fossil record within the Caribbean. This species complex has long been considered a generalist that exists at depths between 0 and 80 metres and grows into varying colony shapes in response to differing light conditions. Only recently with the help of molecular techniques has O. annularis been shown to be a complex of at least three separate species. Those species are divided into O. annularis, O. faveolata, and O. franksi. This coral was originally described as Montastraea annularis.

Orbicella annularis

Louiswray · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
OrbicellaPBDB
Diet
microcarnivore, photosymbioticPBDB, for Scleractinia
Life habit
intermediate-level epifaunal, colonial, clonalPBDB, for Scleractinia
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Scleractinia
Vision
blindPBDB, for Anthozoa
Environment
marinePBDB, for Scleractinia

Time the record covers

At least 20 million years on record.

The record covers at least 20.45 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 1 of 275 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 5 of 275 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 3 of 275 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 240 of 275 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.3–8.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.4–7.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.4–6.5 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.6–4.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.6–3.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.7–2.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.8–1.9 Mya — about 15 occurrences1.9–928 ka Mya — about 15 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 236 occurrences20.45 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

275 occurrences of Orbicella annularis on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

275 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

23 formations

Ironshore — 19.28°N, 81.35°WIronshore — 19.30°N, 81.20°WIronshore — 19.65°N, 80.10°WIronshore — 19.37°N, 81.38°WIronshore — 19.32°N, 81.37°WIronshore — 19.35°N, 81.08°WHato — 12.28°N, 69.07°WHato — 12.37°N, 69.10°WHato — 12.23°N, 69.02°WHato — 12.17°N, 68.88°WHato — 12.20°N, 69.08°WHato — 12.13°N, 68.98°WSan Luis — 12.50°N, 81.72°WSan Luis — 12.57°N, 81.72°WIsla Colon — 9.41°N, 82.31°WIsla Colon — 9.31°N, 82.14°WKey Largo — 24.73°N, 80.97°WKey Largo — 24.75°N, 80.95°WKey Largo — 24.93°N, 80.60°WKey Largo — 25.17°N, 80.37°WKey Largo — 25.17°N, 80.35°WKey Largo — 24.82°N, 80.80°WKey Largo Limestone — 25.13°N, 80.38°WKey Largo Limestone — 24.93°N, 80.58°WWhite Wall — 17.47°N, 62.96°WPort Morant — 17.87°N, 76.32°WUrraca — 9.38°N, 82.24°WUrraca — 9.43°N, 82.32°WManchioneal — 18.19°N, 76.43°WSeroe Domi — 12.12°N, 68.92°WRiviere Gauche — 18.37°N, 72.65°WLucayan — 24.65°N, 79.11°WFalmouth — 18.50°N, 77.33°WAmbergris Cay Limestone — 18.12°N, 87.82°WAmbergris Cay Limestone — 18.00°N, 87.90°WOld Bank — 9.32°N, 82.11°WArcadia — 27.95°N, 82.37°WArcadia — 27.92°N, 82.45°WLas Cahobas — 18.51°N, 72.27°WBlanquilla — 11.85°N, 64.62°WKey Largo Limestone/Miami Oolite — 24.67°N, 81.57°WGrotto Beach — 24.03°N, 74.52°WTamiami — 26.13°N, 81.48°WLowlands — 18.05°N, 63.13°W

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The named rock units Orbicella annularis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 117 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Orbicella annularis and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Orbicella annularis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

256 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 63 sites for Orbicella annularis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

59 references

Each of the 275 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 47 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Orbicella annularis

Credit
Louiswray
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

MorphoSource was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itOrbicella through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Ellis and Solander 1876)