Table 1. Changes in various parameters as coral colony grows in size for each geometric shape.

Vertical arrows denote increase/decrease while slating arrows indicate asymptotic increase/decrease. Equal sign denotes constant values which do not change with colony size.

	Size metric	Surface area to volume ratio	Linear extension rate	Surface area productivity
Hemispheroid (constant eccentricity)	equatorial radius	↘	↗	↘
Disc (constant thickness)	radius	=	↑	=
Cone (constant aspect ratio)	height/length, basal radius	↘	↗	↘
Branching coral - cylindrical (constant branch diameter)	average branch length	=	↘	=