They are usually smaller than rugose corals, but vary considerably in shape, from flat to conical to spherical.

Among the most common tabulate corals in the fossil record are Aulopora, Favosites, Halysites, Heliolites, Pleurodictyum, Sarcinula and Syringopora.

Tabulate corals with massive skeletons often contain endobiotic symbionts, such as cornulitids and Chaetosalpinx.

[1][2] Like rugose corals, they lived entirely during the Paleozoic, being found from the Ordovician to the Permian.

Sea levels rose in the Devonian, and tabulate corals became much less common.