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.
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.
Pillar coral is a hard coral found in the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Dendrogyra. It is a digitate coral -that is, it resembles fingers or a cluster of cigars, growing up from the sea floor without any secondary branching. It is large and can grow on both flat and sloping surfaces at depths down to 20 m (65 ft). It is one of the few types of hard coral in which the polyps can commonly be seen feeding during the day.
Millepora dichotoma, the net fire coral, is a species of hydrozoan, consisting of a colony of polyps with a calcareous skeleton.
Tubastraea, also known as sun coral or sun polyps, is a genus of coral in the phylum Cnidaria. It is a cup coral in the family Dendrophylliidae.
Leptogorgia virgulata, commonly known as the sea whip or colorful sea whip, is a species of soft coral in the family Gorgoniidae.
Acropora prolifera, the fused staghorn coral, is a branching, colonial, stony coral found in shallow parts of the Caribbean Sea, the Bahamas and southern Florida.
Pocillopora damicornis, commonly known as the cauliflower coral or lace coral, is a species of stony coral in the family Pocilloporidae. It is native to tropical and subtropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Pocillopora verrucosa, commonly known as cauliflower coral, rasp coral, or knob-horned coral, is a species of stony coral in the family Pocilloporidae. It is native to tropical and subtropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Dipsastraea speciosa is a species of colonial stony coral in the family Merulinidae. It is found in tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans.
Carijoa riisei, the snowflake coral or branched pipe coral, is a species of soft coral in the family Clavulariidae. It was originally thought to have been native to the tropical western Atlantic Ocean and subsequently spread to other areas of the world such as Hawaii and the greater tropical Pacific, where it is regarded as an invasive species. The notion that it is native to the tropical western Atlantic was perpetuated from the fact that the type specimen, described by Duchassaing & Michelotti in 1860, was collected from the US Virgin Islands. It has subsequently been shown through molecular evidence that it is more likely that the species is in fact native to the Indo-Pacific and subsequently spread to the western tropical Atlantic most likely as a hull fouling species prior to its original description.
Favites pentagona is a species of stony coral in the family Merulinidae, sometimes known as larger star coral. It is native to the Indo-Pacific region and its range extends from the Red Sea through the Indian Ocean to the Western Pacific Ocean. This is a common species throughout its wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".
Rhytisma fulvum, the sulphur leather coral, is a species of colonial soft coral in the family Alcyoniidae. It is native to shallow reefs in the Red Sea and the Indo-Pacific region. It was first described by the Swedish naturalist Peter Forsskål in 1775.
Schizocyathus is a monotypic genus of stony corals in the family Schizocyathidae, the only species being Schizocyathus fissilis. It is a deep water, azooxanthellate coral.
Anthelia glauca, the giant anthelia, is a species of soft coral in the family Xeniidae. It is a colonial species and is found in shallow water in the Indo-Pacific region.
Goniastrea favulus, also known as the lesser star coral, is a species of stony coral in the family Merulinidae. It occurs in shallow water in the Indo-Pacific region. This is an uncommon species of coral and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being "near threatened".
Chrysogorgia elegans is a species of soft coral in the family Chrysogorgiidae. It is found in the Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. Soft coral can also be referred to as sea fans, sea whips, sea feathers, and sea pens.
Tubastraea faulkneri, common name Orange sun coral, is a species of large-polyp stony corals belonging to the family Dendrophylliidae. Other common names of this coral are Orange Cup Coral, Sun Coral, Orange Polyp Coral, Rose Sun Coral, Golden Cup Coral, Sun Flower Coral, and Tube Coral.
