Kingdom Animalia Family Melithaeidae Phylum Cnidaria Order Alcyonacea | Suborder Scleraxonia Species See text Rank Genus Subclass Octocorallia | |
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Similar Alcyonacea, Melithaeidae, Acabaria, Octocorallia, Melithaea | ||
Mopsella is a genus of corals in the family Melithaeidae. Members of the genus are commonly known as sea fans. They are found in the tropical parts of the Indo-Pacific region growing on coral reefs and reef slopes, often in deep water. The type species is Mopsella textiformis.
Contents
Description
Members of the genus Mopsella are arborescent colonial corals forming fans or bushes. 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 off at the nodes which are often swollen. The minute calcareous spicules in the flexible membrane called the mesoglea that covers the skeleton are called sclerites. The identity of these spicules is important for identification purposes and in this genus they are predominantly foliate capstans and small clubs, but also include plain spindles, plain capstans and foliate spheroids. In the corallites, the cups surrounding the polyps, the sclerites include larger leaf-clubs. Members of this genus do not have the unicellular symbiotic algae Zooxanthellae in their tissues that many other corals do. Colonies vary in colour but tend to be white or shades of yellow, ochre, orange, red and brown.
Species
The World Register of Marine Species includes the following species in this genus: