---
title: "Greater Star Coral"
description: "Montastraea cavernosa — Altri animali. Montastraea is a genus of colonial stony coral found in the Caribbean seas."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/greater-star-coral
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Greater Star Coral

> Montastraea cavernosa — Altri animali. Montastraea is a genus of colonial stony coral found in the Caribbean seas.

- Scientific name: *Montastraea cavernosa*
- Category: `other` (Altri animali)
- Habitats: `sea` (Mare e costa)
- iNaturalist observations: 2546
- Wikidata: [Q28040](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q28040)
- iNaturalist taxon: [106051](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/106051)

## Names

- en: Greater Star Coral
- es: Gran coral de estrellas
- fr: Grand corail étoilé

## Countries with the most observations

MX (412), CW (176), KY (174), US (171), HN (113), CU (106), PR (72), VI (65), PA (64), BZ (52), DO (48), BS (43)

## Summary

Montastraea is a genus of colonial stony coral found in the Caribbean seas. It is the only genus in the monotypic family Montastraeidae and contains a single species, Montastraea cavernosa, known as great star coral. It forms into massive boulders and sometimes develops into plates. Its polyps are the size of a human thumb and fully extend at night.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montastraea

## Photo

![Greater Star Coral](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/greater-star-coral/medium.jpg)

Photo: Jean-Paul Boerekamps · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/78592898

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/greater-star-coral?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).