Cladocora Caespitosa
This Madrepora, Cladocora Caespitosa or Coral loaf has been covered in apnea in a mixed seabed posidonia rock, in a stretch of sea of the so-called Basso Ligure or Alto Tirreno. It is a madrepora of the class Hexacorallia, phylum Cnidarians, It is an endemic species of the Mediterranean Sea where it is already reported from the upper Pliocene. Common on rocky bottoms, from a few meters up to 60 meters deep. It has polyps of light garnet color, about 5 millimeters in diameter that form pillow-shaped colonies, in symbiosis with the Zooxanthella algae. It produces calcium carbonate deposits with which it forms the limestone cases in which it lives. It is the largest madrepora in the Mediterranean Sea, even reaching 50 centimeters in diameter.
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