Galaxea fascicularis
| Galaxea fascicularis | ||||||||||||
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Galaxea fascicularis with fighting tentacles extended to the left |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Galaxea fascicularis | ||||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1767 |
Galaxea fascicularis is a hard coral (Scleractinia). It lives in the Red Sea and in the tropical Indo-Pacific from the coast of East Africa to Fiji and Samoa . In German it is called crystal coral.
habitat
In nature, they often grow in lagoons with murky water and coastal reefs under overhangs. It is often the predominant species on the inner side of fringing reefs . It often lives together with sponges , tube corals of the Tubipora musica species and squirrel crabs .
Appearance
The limestone skeleton is very porous and brittle. The brown or green polyps have white tentacle tips. They sit in small, crown-like coralites with a diameter of about five millimeters. They grow tightly bound to the substrate, but can also form irregularly curved colonies several meters in size.
Aquarium maintenance
Galaxea fascicularis is not too difficult to maintain in the coral reef aquarium after a period of acclimatization. Disadvantages are their strong nettle strength , their extremely long fighting tentacles and their sensitivity to the unicellular parasite Porpostoma notatum , which causes the tissue loss known as "brown jelly". In order to avoid bruising, the crystal coral should be placed at a greater distance from other sessile animals.
literature
- Svein A. Fossa / Alf Jacob Nilsen: Coral reef aquarium , Volume 4, Schmettkamp Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-928819-05-4
- Julian Sprung / J. Charles Delbeek: Das Riffaquarium Volume 1, 1994, ISBN 1-883693-17-9
Web link
- Galaxea fascicularis in the Red List of Endangered Species of the IUCN 2013.2. Posted by: Hoeksema, B., Rogers, A. & Quibilan, M., 2008. Retrieved December 10, 2013.