Image 7-7
Cabbage Coral

This image of a large cabbage coral (Turbinaria reniformis) was taken by NOAA photographer Linda Wade in the waters off the coast of Tarawa, Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean. Tarawa is an atoll, a ring or coral that formed on the slopes of an extinct volcano. The volcano eventually eroded away, leaving only the ring or coral. Cabbage coral can be found throughout the Indo-Pacific Ocean region where it forms large horizontal plate structures that resemble a head of cabbage.