Variation in spectral reflectance of the hermatypic corals, Stylophora pistillata and Pocillopora damicornis

Reflectance spectra were measured off pink and brown color morphs of the branching hermatypic corals Stylophora pistillata and Pocillopora damicornis in the northern Red Sea. Results showed that though some of the brown morphs were identical between coral species, other brown morphs were found only in S. pistillata corals. Reflectance of pink morphs differed between these two species, possibly due to differences in Pocilloporin pigments between them. Spectral variation between color morphs was higher than between species, and corals could exhibit both colors in the same colony. These results show that species recognition based on reflectance spectra is possible in some cases, yet it may be limited to specific color morphs or to discrimination between a small numbers of well-described coral species.