The Chagos Brain Coral, Ctenella chagius, is unique Indian Ocean endemic coral species which is highly unlikely to come up on the radar of the most reef aquarists. With this great video footage of the Chagos Brain Coral we thought it’d be a great opportunity to bring your attention to a coral you may never see in real life, maybe not even in books or pictures.
Ctenella is related to the Caribbean Dendrogyra pillow coral and Meandrina meandrites maze coral pictured above for illustration. But Chagos brain coral is not really like a Faviid or Mussid brain coral, It’s more like a Merulina on crack with extra wide grooves and serious tentacles that would put Goniastrea to shame. For more information on Ctenella chagius check out the entry for Chagos Brain coral on Arkive and COTW.
