This colony of animals starts to grow from the inside out, and lives from just below the tide line, down to 60 feet. It needs strong currents, to bring in large amounts of plankton to eat, but not so strong that it’s calcium skeleton breaks. It isn’t native to the Monterey Bay area, and is resistant to most copper based anti fouling paints, so it likely came in on the bottom of a boat. It was first reported sometime in the 1960’s. It is a hermaphroditic species and capable of self-fertilizing, making it well equipped to quickly spread globally via boats.