This is a small, free-living form. It is very similar to M. brasiliensis, which is endemic to Brazil, but this Caribbean species is considered to be a separate species (ref below).

It lives on rubble or sandy bottoms and in seagrass beds, and prefers deeper water. It forms oval shaped colonies, with relatively wide valleys.

There is another possible species, Meandrina braziliensis, which is a free living form with one or two valleys only, unattached on rubble substrates, but whose skeletal structures are otherwise identical. It may be the same species.

Pinzon JH and Weil, E. In Press. Species variability in the Atlantic scleractinian coral genus Meandrina. A Multivariate Analysis of the Scleractinian Genus Meandrina (Lamarck, 1801): evidence for a new species. Biological Bulletin.