Sarcophyton

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Sarcophyton
Sarcophyton sp. with outstretched polyps

Sarcophyton sp. with outstretched polyps

Systematics
Trunk : Cnidarians (Cnidaria)
Class : Flower animals (anthozoa)
Subclass : Octocorallia
Order : Soft corals (Alcyonacea)
Family : Leather corals (Alcyoniidae)
Genre : Sarcophyton
Scientific name
Sarcophyton
Lesson , 1834

Sarcophyton is a genus of leather corals (Alcyoniidae) from the coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific . There are around 50 species that are very difficult to differentiate, even for experts.

Sarcophyton species can be kept in saltwater aquariums. Here, too, they often reach sizes of 50 centimeters in diameter.

features

Like all corals, they are animal colonies made up of many individual polyps. Sarcophyton species all have a more or less pronounced mushroom shape. Some species have a wavy edge. At the top of the screen are the polyps , of which there are two forms. The autozoids can be more than an inch tall. They have eight feathered tentacles and can fully retract into the umbrella. In between sit tiny regressed tubular polyps (siphonozoids), whose job it is to pump or drain water into the body of the colony. Outwardly, one sees only small bumps or pores on the coral's visor. Sarcophyton is similar to the leather coral genus Lobophytum , but it also has its lobed outgrowths in the center of the umbrella, not just at the edge.

As with all leather corals, the body of Sarcophyton is supported by small calcified needles ( sclerite ). The body of the animals is yellow, whitish, brown or green. The polyps are the same color. In some species the autozoids are white. Sarcophyton live in an endosymbiosis with unicellular, symbiotic algae ( zooxanthellae ).

species

Sarcophyton glaucum in the Red Sea
Indeterminate Sarcophyton near the Maldives
Indeterminate Sarcophyton among the Pulau Aur
Sarcophyton trocheliophorum near Réunion

literature

  • Svein A. Fosså / Alf Jacob Nilsen: Coral Reef Aquarium , Volume 4, Birgit Schmettkamp Verlag, Bornheim, ISBN 3-928819-05-4

Web links

Commons : Sarcophyton  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
  • van Ofwegen, L. (2014). Sarcophyton Lesson, 1834. World Register of Marine Species, accessed October 7, 2014