| Simplastrea | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Cnidaria |
| Class: | Anthozoa |
| Order: | Scleractinia |
| Family: | Euphylliidae |
| Genus: | Simplastrea Umbgrove, 1939 |
| Species: | S. vesicularis |
| Binomial name | |
| Simplastrea vesicularis (Umbgrove, 1939) | |
Simplastrea is a monotypic genus of large polyp stony coral from the Indian Ocean. It is represented by a single species, Simplastrea vesicularis. [2]
Colonies of Simplastrea vesicularis are flat and encrusting with circular corallites that are spaced evenly by beaded coenosteum. [3] It has thin walls, well-developed septae that are thin and straight with inner margins forming a columella tangle. [3] The entire surface of Simplastrea vesicularis is covered in small tentacles displaying slight extension. [3]
It can be found throughout the Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific in the shallow waters of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia where it encrusts rock surfaces of coral reefs. [3] [4]
Coralline algae are red algae in the order Corallinales. They are characterized by a thallus that is hard because of calcareous deposits contained within the cell walls. The colors of these algae are most typically pink, or some other shade of red, but some species can be purple, yellow, blue, white, or gray-green. Coralline algae play an important role in the ecology of coral reefs. Sea urchins, parrot fish, and limpets and chitons feed on coralline algae. In the temperate Mediterranean Sea, coralline algae are the main builders of a typical algal reef, the Coralligène ("coralligenous"). Many are typically encrusting and rock-like, found in marine waters all over the world. Only one species lives in freshwater. Unattached specimens may form relatively smooth compact balls to warty or fruticose thalli.
Fire corals (Millepora) are a genus of colonial marine organisms that exhibit physical characteristics similar to that of coral. The name coral is somewhat misleading, as fire corals are not true corals but are instead more closely related to Hydra and other hydrozoans, making them hydrocorals. They make up the only genus in the monotypic family Milleporidae.
Kadmat Island, also known as Cardamom Island, is a coral island belonging to the Amindivi subgroup of islands of the Lakshadweep archipelago in India. Measuring 9.3 kilometres (5.8 mi) in length, the island has a lagoon with a width of 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) covering an area of 25 square kilometres (9.7 sq mi). The ecological feature of the island is of coral reef with seagrass, and marine turtles which nestle here. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (India) has notified the island as a marine protected area for ensuring conservation of the island's animal, plant, or other type of organism, and other resources.
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.
Porites lobata, known by the common name lobe coral, is a species of stony coral in the family Poritidae. It is found growing on coral reefs in tropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Favia fragrum is a species of colonial stony coral in the family Mussidae. It is commonly known as the golfball coral and is found in tropical waters on either side of the Atlantic Ocean.
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.
Lobophora variegata is a species of small thalloid brown alga which grows intertidally or in shallow water in tropical and warm temperate seas. It has three basic forms, being sometimes ruffled, sometimes reclining and sometimes encrusting, and each form is typically found in a different habitat. This seaweed occurs worldwide. It is the type species of the genus Lobophora, the type locality being the Antilles in the West Indies.
Alcyonium coralloides, commonly known as false coral, is a colonial species of soft coral in the family Alcyoniidae. It is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. In the former location it generally grows as sheets or small lobes but in the latter it is parasitic and overgrows sea fans.
Paragoniastrea australensis, also known as the lesser star coral, is a species of stony corals in the family Merulinidae. It occurs in shallow water in the Indo-Pacific region.
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".
Platygyra contorta is a species of colonial stony coral in the family Merulinidae. It was described by John Veron in 1990. It is found at depths of 2 to 20 metres and its colonies are over 1 metre (3.3 ft) in diameter. It has been identified as a least-concern species.
Gelliodes wilsoni, sometimes known as the gray encrusting sponge, is a species of sponge found in shallow water in the Philippines. It was first described in 1925 by the American zoologist Edmund Beecher Wilson, the type locality being North Sulawesi. He gave it the name Gelliodes fibrosa, a name already used in 1905 for a species in the Gulf of Mannar, Sri Lanka. In 2013, Carballo, Aquilar-Camacho, Knapp & Bell, decided that this was a homonym, a separate taxon from the original one given that name, and gave the new species the name Gelliodes wilsoni.
Euphylliidae is a family of marine stony corals of the order Scleractinia.
Pavona maldivensis is a species of colonial stony coral in the family Agariciidae. It is found on shallow reef slopes, particularly those with strong wave action, and on vertical surfaces, in tropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Astreopora listeri is a species of hard coral found in shallow water in the tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is an uncommon species with a wide range and is tolerant of turbid water, making it more resilient than some other corals to habitat disturbance. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".
Clathria aceratoobtusa is a species of sponge in the family Microcionidae. The genus Clathria is subdivided into a number of subgenera, and it is in the subgenus Microciona. It is native to shallow water habitats in the Indo-Pacific region. The type locality is the Gulf of Thailand.
Terpios hoshinota is a species of sea sponge belonging to the family Suberitidae. It is found on rocky shores in the Indo-Pacific region. This sponge forms blackish sheets which overgrow and kill corals, and is the causal agent for the so-called "black disease" of corals. Since being discovered in Guam in 1973, this sponge has been spreading to other areas of the Indo-Pacific region and threatening coral reefs from the Maldives to the South China Sea and eastern Australia.
Chorizopora brongniartii is a species of bryozoan in the family Chorizoporidae. It is an encrusting bryozoan, the colonies forming spreading patches. It has a widespread distribution in tropical and temperate seas.
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