Caryophyllia smithii

Caryophyllia smithii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Cnidaria
Class:	Anthozoa
Order:	Scleractinia
Family:	Caryophylliidae
Genus:	Caryophyllia
Species:	C. smithii
Binomial name
	Caryophyllia smithii; Stokes & Broderip, 1828
Synonyms
	List Caryophyllia clavus Scacchi, 1835; Caryophyllia pseudoturbinolia Michelin, 1841; Cyathina turbinata Philippi, 1836; Paracyathus humilis Duncan, 1878; Paracyathus monilis Duncan, 1878; Paracyathus pteropus Gosse, 1860; Paracyathus taxilianus Gosse, 1860; Paracyathus thulensis Gosse, 1860; Turbinolia borealis Fleming, 1828;

Last updated March 16, 2021

Caryophyllia smithii, the Devonshire cup coral, is a species of solitary coral in the family Caryophylliidae. It is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. There are shallow and deep-water forms which are structurally different. It forms part of a biodiverse community of rock encrusting organisms and is often parasitised by a barnacle.

Description

Caryophyllia smithii is a solitary species of coral with a cup-shaped corallum (stony skeleton) with an elliptical base and a diameter of up to 25 mm (1 in). It is usually broader than it is high. The septa (vertical radial calcareous plates) are arranged in four to five cycles and have smooth edges. The column of the polyp can project by up to 30 mm (1.2 in) from the cup and there are about eighty tentacles each with a terminal knob. The polyp is translucent and the colour is variable and may be white, pink, orange, red, brown or bright green. Sometimes there are contrasting regions of colour, especially forming a zig-zag pattern round the mouth. The tentacles are colourless except for the white or brown terminal knobs and the many tiny warts.^[2]^[3] A form found in deep water is smaller and more delicate; it has an inverse cone shape which is narrowed at the base, while shallow water forms are cylindrical and more robust.^[3]

Distribution and habitat

Caryophyllia smithii is found in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean as far north as the Shetland Islands, the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The shallow water form occurs from the sublittoral zone down to about 100 m (328 ft). The deep water form occurs from about 50 m (164 ft) down to about 1,000 m (3,281 ft), generally in less turbulent waters than the more robust shallow water form. Sometimes its narrow base becomes detached from the substrate and it lives free on the seabed.^[3] This coral is abundant around the west coasts of the British Isles below the Laminaria zone and may occur at densities of over 100 per square metre below the red algae zone, being found both on flat rock and in crevices.^[4]

Ecology

The habitat of Caryophyllia smithii is often dominated by sponges and bryozoans and these also grow on the corallum of the coral. The larvae of the barnacle Megatrema anglicum often settle near the rim of the corallum where they appear to be immune to the coral's nematocysts. They become attached to the stony material and the coral's epithelium overgrows them except for their operculums. A single coral may be colonised by multiple barnacles and these have a tendency to aggregate on one particular part of the coral, often the lower side when corals are growing on vertical surfaces. The presence of these barnacles is semi-parasitic as the coral's tentacles retract when they come into contact with the barnacle's cirri (feeding appendages), and this hampers its food-gathering activities.^[4]

Related Research Articles

Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically live in compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.

Anthozoa is a class of marine invertebrates which includes the sea anemones, stony corals and soft corals. Adult anthozoans are almost all attached to the seabed, while their larvae can disperse as part of the plankton. The basic unit of the adult is the polyp; this consists of a cylindrical column topped by a disc with a central mouth surrounded by tentacles. Sea anemones are mostly solitary, but the majority of corals are colonial, being formed by the budding of new polyps from an original, founding individual. Colonies are strengthened by calcium carbonate and other materials and take various massive, plate-like, bushy or leafy forms.

Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc in which a mouth is fringed with tentacles. Although some species are solitary, most are colonial. The founding polyp settles and starts to secrete calcium carbonate to protect its soft body. Solitary corals can be as much as 25 cm (10 in) across but in colonial species the polyps are usually only a few millimetres in diameter. These polyps reproduce asexually by budding, but remain attached to each other, forming a multi-polyp colony of clones with a common skeleton, which may be up to several metres in diameter or height according to species.

<i>Porites astreoides</i> Species of coral

Porites astreoides, commonly known as mustard hill coral or yellow porites, is a colonial species of stony coral in the family Poritidae.

Leptogorgia virgulata, commonly known as the sea whip or colorful sea whip, is a species of soft coral in the family Gorgoniidae.

Siderastrea radians, also known as the lesser starlet coral or the shallow-water starlet coral, is a stony coral in the family Siderastreidae. It is found in shallow parts of the western Atlantic Ocean as small, solid mounds or encrusting sheets.

Pseudodiploria strigosa, the symmetrical brain coral, is a colonial species of stony coral in the family Mussidae. It occurs on reefs in shallow water in the West Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. It grows slowly and lives to a great age.

Pseudodiploria clivosa, the knobby brain coral, is a colonial species of stony coral in the family Mussidae. It occurs in shallow water in the West Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea.

<i>Alveopora spongiosa</i> Species of coral

Alveopora spongiosa is a species of stony coral that is found in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the southwest and northern Indian Ocean, the central Indo-Pacific, Australia, Southeast Asia Japan, the East China Sea and the oceanic west and central Pacific Ocean. It can be found on protected upper coral reef slopes, generally from depth of 9–20 m, but can grow at depths of up to 50 m. It is moderately susceptible to coral bleaching, and is harvested for the aquarium trade.

Leptopsammia pruvoti, the sunset cup coral, is a solitary stony coral in the family Dendrophylliidae. It is an azooxanthellate species, meaning its tissues do not contain the symbiotic unicellular algae (zooxanthellae) of the genus Symbiodinium, as do most corals. It is native to the Mediterranean Sea. The species was described by Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers in 1897 and named to honor the French marine biologist Georges Pruvot.

Astroides is a genus of stony cup corals in the family Dendrophylliidae. It is monotypic and the only species is Astroides calycularis, which is endemic to the western Mediterranean Sea. The species was first described in 1766 by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas.

Megatrema anglicum is a species of acorn barnacle that grows in association with or semi-parasitically on corals and octocorals. It is found in the intertidal zone on the coasts of northwestern Europe and in the Mediterranean Sea.

Dactylotrochus is a genus of large polyp stony corals from the Red Sea and western Pacific Ocean. It is monotypic with a single species, Dactylotrochus cervicornis. It inhabits the deep sea and is believed to be azooxanthellate.

Heliofungia actiniformis is a solitary species of mushroom coral, a large polyp stony coral in the family Fungiidae. This coral is found in shallow water in the Indo-Pacific region. It is a zooxanthellate species. It is a popular coral in the reef aquarium trade; wild populations are threatened by disease, climate change, and over-collecting, and the species is considered vulnerable by the IUCN.

Polycyathus muellerae is a small species of coral in the family Caryophylliidae in the order Scleractinia, the stony corals. It is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It is a large polyp, colonial coral and grows under overhangs and in caves as part of an assemblage of organisms suited to these poorly-lit sites.

Manicina areolata, commonly known as rose coral, is a colonial species of stony coral. It occurs in shallow water in the West Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, sometimes as small solid heads and sometimes as unattached cone-shaped forms.

Flabellum curvatum is a species of marine, cold water coral in the family Flabellidae. It is an azooxanthellate coral, that is to say without symbiotic zooxanthellae. The species is native to deep waters around Antarctica.

Balanophyllia elegans, the orange coral or orange cup coral, is a species of solitary cup coral, a stony coral in the family Dendrophylliidae. It is native to the eastern Pacific Ocean. As an azooxanthellate species, it does not contain symbiotic dinoflagellates in its tissues in the way that most corals do.

Corynactis viridis, the jewel anemone, is a brightly coloured anthozoan similar in body form to a sea anemone or a scleractinian coral polyp, but in the order Corallimorpharia. It is found in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and was first described by the Irish naturalist George Allman in 1846.

Goniopora tenuidens is a species of colonial stony coral in the family Poritidae. It occurs in shallow water in the tropical Indo-Pacific region. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".

References

1 2 Hoeksema, Bert (2014). "Caryophyllia (Caryophyllia) smithii Stokes & Broderip, 1828". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 2014-12-31.
↑ Gregory, Paul (2008). "Caryophyllia smithii". The Marine Life Information Network . Retrieved 2014-12-31.
1 2 3 de Kluijver, M. J.; Ingalsuo, S. S. "Caryophyllia smithii". Macrobenthos of the North Sea: Anthozoa. Marine Species Information Portal. Retrieved 2014-12-31.
1 2 D. J. Crisp (1971). Fourth European Marine Biology Symposium. Cambridge University Press. pp. 125–141. ISBN 978-0-521-08101-6.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[WoRMS-1] 1 2 Hoeksema, Bert (2014). "Caryophyllia (Caryophyllia) smithii Stokes & Broderip, 1828". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 2014-12-31.

[MarLIN-2] Gregory, Paul (2008). "Caryophyllia smithii". The Marine Life Information Network . Retrieved 2014-12-31.

[MSIP-3] 1 2 3 de Kluijver, M. J.; Ingalsuo, S. S. "Caryophyllia smithii". Macrobenthos of the North Sea: Anthozoa. Marine Species Information Portal. Retrieved 2014-12-31.

[Crisp-4] 1 2 D. J. Crisp (1971). Fourth European Marine Biology Symposium. Cambridge University Press. pp. 125–141. ISBN 978-0-521-08101-6.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]