Porolithon is a genus of red alga comprising 15 species. The Porolithon are the primary reef

Coral reef

Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...

 building algae. When coral reefs reach sea level, the coral

Coral

Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...

s break under the high energy impact of the wave

Breaking wave

In fluid dynamics, a breaking wave is a wave whose amplitude reaches a critical level at which some process can suddenly start to occur that causes large amounts of wave energy to be transformed into turbulent kinetic energy...

s, while the coralline red algae, primarily Porolithon, continuing building and cementing the reef structure.

Species

Some species in the genus are:

• P. aequinoctiale
• P. antillarum
• P. castellum
• P. cocosicum
• P. colliculosum
• P. conicum
• P. craspedium
• P. gardineri
• P. improcerum
• P. marshallensis
• P. oligarpum
• P. oligocarpum
• P. orbiculatum
• P. pachydermum
• P. sonorense