Caulastraea furcata is a colonial scleractinian coral (family Merulinidae) found in shallow to moderately deep Indo-Pacific reef environments, forming phaceloid (branching) colonies with elongated corallites and fleshy mantle tissue often extending beyond the skeletal rim. The species inhabits a range of reef habitats including lagoons, slopes, and turbid inshore reefs, maintaining photosymbiosis with Symbiodiniaceae. Genomic data have been generated for this species and are available in public databases, enabling comparative studies of cnidarian evolution and ecology.