Dendronephthya
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Dendronephthya sp. |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Dendronephthya | ||||||||||
| Kuekenthal , 1905 |
Dendronephthya is a genus of coral from the subclass Octocorallia . It iswidespreadin the Red Sea and the tropical Indo-Pacific . It mainly grows on reef edges, on overhangs or hangs down from cave roofs.
features
Dendronephthya - colonies can reach a height of one meter and are stabilized solely by the internal water pressure. Main trunk and large branches are without polyps . These sit in balls at the ends of the branches. As with all Octocorallia, the Dendronephthya polyps have eight tentacles. They cannot be completely drawn into the branches. The branches are densely covered with spindle-shaped sclerites so that when pulled together they feel rough. Smaller sclerites a little over a millimeter long sit in the polyps. Dendronephthya are usually beautifully colored yellow, orange or red. The color of the polyps is often different from that of the branches. Dendronephthya does not live in symbiosis with zooxanthellae , but feeds itself exclusively by catching phytoplankton .
literature
- Julian Sprung: Korallen , Dähne Verlag, 2000, ISBN 3-921684-87-0
- SA Fosså, & AJ Nilsen: Coral reef aquarium. Volume 4, Birgit Schmettkamp Verlag, Bornheim, ISBN 3-928819-05-4
- Matthias Bergbauer: Soft corals (Alcyonaria) - Selected ecological aspects. in the proceedings of the 5th International Seawater Symposium, 1999
