Kingdom Animalia Family Alcyoniidae Rank Species | Class Anthozoa Phylum Cnidaria Order Alcyonacea | |
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Genus Malacacanthus
Thomson, 1910 Similar Alcyonacea, Cape dorid, Violet‑spotted anemone, False plum anemone, Leminda millecra | ||
The sun-burst soft coral is a species of colonial soft corals in the family Alcyoniidae. It is the only species known in its genus.
Contents
Description
Sun-burst soft corals grow up to 15 cm tall and consist of an orange column with a ball at its top. They are somewhat mushroom-shaped and when feeding have bright orange polyps radiating from the ball on striped transparent stalks.
Distribution
This species is known from the Cape Peninsula to southern KwaZulu-Natal off the South African coast, and lives from 13-93m under water.
Ecology
When threatened the whole ball may withdraw into the top of the body column. In between the feeding polyps are tiny dot-like organs known as siphonozooids which are used to re-inflate the colony after it contracts.
References
Sun-burst soft coral Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA