Melithaeidae

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Melithaeidae
Melithaea ochracea3.jpg
Melithaea ochracea at Bali, Indonesia
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Octocorallia
Order: Alcyonacea
Suborder: Scleraxonia
Family: Melithaeidae
Gray, 1870 [1]
Genera

See text

Synonyms [1]
  • Melitodidae

Melithaeidae is a family of corals in the suborder Scleraxonia. Members of the family are commonly known as sea fans and are found on reefs in the tropical regions of the Indo-Pacific. [2]

Contents

Description

Members of the family Melithaeidae are arborescent colonial corals forming fans, bushes or trees. The axis or main skeletal "trunk" is jointed, there being nodes, flexible horny joints, separated by internodes composed of hard, calcareous material. The branches divide dichotomously at the nodes and these are often swollen. The minute calcareous spicules in the flexible membrane called the mesoglea that covers the skeleton are called sclerites. The exact shape of these spicules is important for identification purposes and in this family there are a range of different sclerites including foliate capstans and spheroids, plain spindles, plain capstans and small and large clubs. Members of this family do not have the unicellular symbiotic algae Zooxanthellae that grows in the tissues of many other corals. [2]

Genera

The World Register of Marine Species includes the following genera in the family: [1]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Melithaea</i> Genus of corals

Melithaea is a genus of octocorals in the family Melithaeidae. Members of the genus are commonly known as fan corals and are found in the tropical Indo-Pacific region. The type species is Melithaea ochracea.

<i>Melithaea ochracea</i> Species of coral

Melithaea ochracea is a species of colonial soft coral in the family Melithaeidae, commonly known as knotted fan coral. It grows in tree-like fans on coral reefs in the South China Sea. It is used in the jewellery industry under the name red spongy coral.

<i>Didemnum molle</i> Species of sea squirt

Didemnum molle is a species of colonial tunicate in the family Didemnidae. It is commonly known as the tall urn ascidian, the green barrel sea squirt or the green reef sea-squirt. It is native to the Red Sea and the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific region.

<i>Leptogorgia hebes</i> Species of coral

Leptogorgia hebes, commonly known as the regal sea fan or false sea fan, is a species of soft coral in the family Gorgoniidae. It was formerly included in the genus Lophogorgia but that genus has been dismantled.

<i>Plexaurella</i> Genus of corals

Plexaurella is a genus of gorgonian-type octocorals in the family Plexauridae. Species of the genus are typically characterised by their slit-pores, however, there are some which lack this distinguishing feature. Sclerite examination is necessary for species identification, which reveals the characteristic 4-rayed 'butterfly' spicules of the cortex and the lack of purple sclerites in the axial sheath.

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Plexauridae is a family of marine colonial octocorals in the phylum Cnidaria. Members of this family are found in shallow tropical and subtropical seas. Many species contain symbiotic photosynthetic protists called zooxanthellae.

<i>Euapta godeffroyi</i> Species of sea cucumber

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References

  1. 1 2 3 van Ofwegen, Leen (2010). "Melithaeidae". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 2012-02-22.
  2. 1 2 Family Melithaeidae Marine Species Identification Portal. Retrieved 2012-02-22.