---
title: "Lobed Star Coral"
description: "Orbicella annularis — Andere dieren. 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."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/lobed-star-coral
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Lobed Star Coral

> Orbicella annularis — Andere dieren. 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.

- Scientific name: *Orbicella annularis*
- Category: `other` (Andere dieren)
- Habitats: `sea` (Zee en kust)
- iNaturalist observations: 1759
- Wikidata: [Q22106243](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q22106243)
- iNaturalist taxon: [499309](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/499309)

## Names

- en: Lobed Star Coral
- es: Coral rocoso de estrellas
- fr: Corail-étoilé lobé

## Countries with the most observations

MX (180), KY (129), CW (103), HN (100), VI (64), BZ (62), DO (47), PR (41), CU (36), PA (26), MQ (21), CO (18)

## Summary

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 (0 and 262 ft) and grows into varying colony shapes (heads, columns, plates) in response to differing light conditions. Only recently with the help of molecular techniques has O. annularis been shown to be a complex…

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

## Photo

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

Photo: Andra Waagmeester · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/101877418

## Machine access

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