[1][3] The crisp pillow coral forms small, mound-like colonies that grow to be about 20 cm in height and make a blue-grey and cream color.

The polyps discharge a skeleton made of calcium carbonate known as corallite which would participate in the formation of coral reefs.

[3] As a member of the family Siderastreidae, it is a zooxanthellate, living in harmony with zooxanthellae, a unicellular algae, which aids the coral in its growth and survival.

The climate change also is expected to increase ocean acidification and destructive weather, such as storms that destroy the coral reefs.

[4] Other causes of the declining population of the crisp pillow coral are pollution, destructive fishing practices, human activity, and invasive species.