Siderastrea siderea, the massive starlet coral (family Siderastreidae), is a dominant massive reef-building coral throughout the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, forming large, hemispherical or encrusting colonies with characteristic star-shaped corallites across a wide depth range from the intertidal zone to over 70 m. It is one of the most common Caribbean corals and notable for its resistance to bleaching and disease compared to other Caribbean species. It is an important target for coral restoration research given its relative resilience. Genomic data have been generated for this species and are available in public databases, enabling comparative studies of cnidarian evolution and ecology.