Acropora is a currently very diverse genus of corals, which includes more than 150 species, such as the staghorn coral. It is one of the most important corals with regard to the construction of the great coral reefs around the world, especially in the Indo-Pacific but also in the Caribbean Sea. Its form of growth is very varied, depending on the species and the area of the reef: it can form more or less branched branches, or plates. Its diet consists of plankton and organic matter in suspension, captured by its small polyps.
This month’s fossil comes from the collection of Antoni Comas, recently donated to the Museum. It is a fragment of a coral of this genus, which lived in Mallorca around 34 million years ago. At that time, the climate was tropical and, although the reefs did not form large barriers like the current ones, in the surroundings of Randa there were quite significant coral patches.
Origin: Algaida, Mallorca.
Age: Paleogene, Lower Oligocene, Lower Rupelian
