| Cladocora | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Cladocora caespitosa | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Cnidaria |
| Class: | Hexacorallia |
| Order: | Scleractinia |
| Family: | incertae sedis |
| Genus: | Cladocora Ehrenberg, 1834 |
Cladocora is a genus of corals in the order of stony corals.
Species in this genus include: [1]
Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form 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.
Parrotfish are a group of fish species traditionally regarded as a family (Scaridae), but now often treated as a subfamily (Scarinae) or tribe (Scarini) of the wrasses (Labridae). With roughly 95 species, this group's largest species richness is in the Indo-Pacific. They are found in coral reefs, rocky coasts, and seagrass beds, and can play a significant role in bioerosion.
Coral snakes are a large group of elapid snakes that can be divided into two distinct groups, the Old World coral snakes and New World coral snakes. There are 27 species of Old World coral snakes, in three genera, and 83 recognized species of New World coral snakes, in two genera. Genetic studies have found that the most basal lineages have origins in Asia, suggesting that the group originated in the Old World. While new world species of both genera are venomous, their bites are seldom lethal; only two confirmed fatalities have been documented in the past 100 years from the genus Micrurus. Meanwhile, snakes of the genus Micruroides have never caused a medically significant bite.
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.
Alcyonacea are an order of sessile colonial cnidarians that are found throughout the oceans of the world, especially in the deep sea, polar waters, tropics and subtropics. Whilst not in a strict taxonomic sense, Alcyonacea are commonly known as soft corals. The term "soft coral" generally applies to organisms in the two orders Pennatulacea and Alcyonacea with their polyps embedded within a fleshy mass of coenenchymal tissue. Consequently, the term "gorgonian coral" is commonly handed to multiple species in the order Alcyonacea that produce a mineralized skeletal axis composed of calcite and the proteinaceous material gorgonin only and corresponds to only one of several families within the formally accepted taxon Gorgoniidae (Scleractinia). These can be found in order Malacalcyonacea (taxonomic synonyms of include : Alcyoniina, Holaxonia, Protoalcyonaria, Scleraxonia, and Stolonifera. They are sessile colonial cnidarians that are found throughout the oceans of the world, especially in the deep sea, polar waters, tropics and subtropics. Common names for subsets of this order are sea fans and sea whips; others are similar to the sea pens of related order Pennatulacea. Individual tiny polyps form colonies that are normally erect, flattened, branching, and reminiscent of a fan. Others may be whiplike, bushy, or even encrusting. A colony can be several feet high and across, but only a few inches thick. They may be brightly coloured, often purple, red, or yellow. Photosynthetic gorgonians can be successfully kept in captive aquaria.
Montipora is a genus of Scleractinian corals in the phylum Cnidaria. Members of the genus Montipora may exhibit many different growth morphologies. With eighty five known species, Montipora is the second most species rich coral genus after Acropora.
Porites is a genus of stony coral; they are small polyp stony (SPS) corals. They are characterised by a finger-like morphology. Members of this genus have widely spaced calices, a well-developed wall reticulum and are bilaterally symmetrical. Porites, particularly Porites lutea, often form microatolls. Corals of the genus Porites also often serve as hosts for Christmas tree worms.
Symbiodinium is a genus of dinoflagellates that encompasses the largest and most prevalent group of endosymbiotic dinoflagellates known and have photosymbiotic relationships with many species. These unicellular microalgae commonly reside in the endoderm of tropical cnidarians such as corals, sea anemones, and jellyfish, where the products of their photosynthetic processing are exchanged in the host for inorganic molecules. They are also harbored by various species of demosponges, flatworms, mollusks such as the giant clams, foraminifera (soritids), and some ciliates. Generally, these dinoflagellates enter the host cell through phagocytosis, persist as intracellular symbionts, reproduce, and disperse to the environment. The exception is in most mollusks, where these symbionts are intercellular. Cnidarians that are associated with Symbiodinium occur mostly in warm oligotrophic (nutrient-poor), marine environments where they are often the dominant constituents of benthic communities. These dinoflagellates are therefore among the most abundant eukaryotic microbes found in coral reef ecosystems.
Plectropomus, commonly known as the coral groupers, is a genus of marine ray-finned fish, groupers from the subfamily Epinephelinae, part of the family Serranidae, which also includes the anthias and sea basses. They are found in the Indo-Pacific region.
Corallimorpharia is an order of marine cnidarians closely related to stony or reef building corals (Scleractinia). They occur in both temperate and tropical climates, although they are mostly tropical. Temperate forms tend to be very robust, with wide and long columns, whereas tropical forms tend to have very short columns with a wide oral disc and very short tentacles. The tentacles are usually arranged in rows radiating from the mouth. Many species occur together in large groups, although there are recorded instances of individuals. In many respects, they resemble the stony corals, except for the absence of a stony skeleton. Morphological and molecular evidence suggests that they are very closely related to stony corals.
Lutjanidae or snappers are a family of perciform fish, mainly marine, but with some members inhabiting estuaries, feeding in fresh water. The family includes about 113 species. Some are important food fish. One of the best known is the red snapper.
Astreopora is a genus of stony corals in the Acroporidae family. Members of the genus are commonly known as star corals and there are seventeen species currently recognized.
Favia is a genus of reef-building stony corals in the family Mussidae. Members of the genus are massive or thickly encrusting colonial corals, either dome-shaped or flat, and a few are foliaceous. There is a great diversity of form even among individuals of the same species. The corallites project slightly above the surface of the coral and each has its own wall. In most species, the corallites are plocoid and in some, monocentric. The septa and costae linked to the corallite wall are well developed and covered by fine teeth. The polyps only extend and feed during the night. Each one has a small number of tapering tentacles which often have a darker coloured tip; these are called stinger tentacles, or sweeper tentacles. They use these to sweep the water to see if any other coral is in its area; if so, then they begin to sting the other coral. This is commonly known as coral war. Each coral is trying to make sure it has enough room around it so it can continue to grow and have more surface area for its offspring. The columella is parietal and spongy, and there are vesicles on both the endotheca and exotheca. Members of this genus are widespread in both the Atlantic Ocean and the Indo-Pacific.
Gemmocystis is a genus of apicomplexans.
Turbinaria is a genus of colonial stony corals in the family Dendrophylliidae. Common names for this genus include disc coral, scroll coral, cup coral, vase coral, pagoda coral and ruffled ridge coral. These corals are native to the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Japan and the south Central Pacific Ocean.
Cladocora caespitosa, commonly known as cushion coral, is a stony coral of the subclass Hexacorallia. This species forms the only true coral reef in the Mediterranean Sea.
Diogenes heteropsammicola is a species of hermit crab discovered during samplings between 2012 and 2016 in the shallow waters of the Japanese Amami Islands. This D. heteropsammicola is strongly associated with the walking corals. This hermit crab species is unique due to the discovery that they use living, growing coral as a shell. They live in the inside of the coral and can be distinguished from other types of hermits by their thin chelipeds and leg shape. Crustaceans of this type commonly replace their shell as the organism grows in size, but D. heteropsammicola are the first of their kind to use solitary corals as a shell form. Heteropsammia and Heterocyathus are the two solitary corals that this hermit species has been observed as occupying. These two coral species are also used as a home by symbiotic Sipuncula of the genus Aspidosiphon, which normally occupy the corals that were previously occupied by crabs.
Heterocyathus is a genus of coral of the family Caryophylliidae.
Heteropsammia is a genus of apozooxanthellate corals that belong to the family Dendrophylliidae.
Rejuvenescence is a unique survival strategy observed in certain coral species, which enables them to recover from harmful warming events. This strategy involves the contraction and subsequent rejuvenation of individual coral polyps within a colony. During warm periods, the polyps shrink inward and abandon their skeletons, only to later regenerate and rebuild their colonies. This mechanism involves a decrease metabolic activity, leading to a significant shrinking of the polyps, their partial retreat from inner skeletal structures, and the formation of a new protective cup, known as a calyx.
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