Herpolitha limax is a colonial, free-living, zooxanthellate species of coral. Under stressful conditions it is susceptible to bleaching and corals appear white after expelling their symbionts. In a period of high water temperature in Thailand in June 2010, bleaching was common and 52% of the corals of this species were affected, along with many other species of mushroom coral. By the following February, they seemed to have recovered with no trace of thermal-induced bleaching being present, and the species composition being similar to that before the bleaching event.
