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| hard corals text index | photo index |
| Phylum Cnidaria > Class Anthozoa > Subclass Zoantharia/Hexacorallia > Order Scleractinia > Family Fungiidae |
| Tongue
mushroom hard coral Herpolitha limax* Family Fungiidae updated Oct 11 Where seen? This long, often tongue-shaped mushroom hard coral is sometimes seen on many of our Southern shores. This coral is free-living as an adult (it is not attached to the surface) and large ones may be seen on in coral rubble and among living corals. Features: Skeleton longer than broad, 20-30cm long with rounded ends, though some may have rather pointed ends. Comes in a wide variety of shapes from long and narrow, oval to circular, flat or rather humped, also bomerang shaped. Specimens in T-, Y- or X- shapes are also seen. This is generally due to regeneration following damage. A prominent central furrow. Upper surface with thin lines radiating from the central furrow. Lines are parallel, discontinuous with sparse, fine 'teeth' that usually can't be seen in the field. The underside usually concave, some with radiating lines of short bumps. Veron considers it to be a colonial animal with many mouths. Numerous mouths are found in the central furrow and mouths may also be found elsewhere on the upper surface. The sparse 'tentacles' are short, slender and usually transparent, often white-tipped. These are not true tentacles but inflated portions of the tissues. These are only 'extended' at night. Colours seen include light blue, green and purple.. Sometimes confused with other long mushroom corals. Here's more on how to tell apart elongated mushroom hard corals. |
 Pulau Hantu, Feb 08  Tiny tentacles |
 Underside |
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 Many mouths |
 Kusu Island, Jun 04 |
 Thin overlapping discontinuous walls. |
 Tiny tentacles |
Tongue mushroom hard corals on Singapore shores
 Pulau Hantu, Apr 06 |
 A twisted colony. |
 The other side of the twisted colony, |
 Pulau Tekukor, May 07 |
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 Underside |
more photos of tongue mushroom hard corals on Singapore shores
part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9
*Species are difficult to positively identify without close examination.
On this website, they are grouped by external features for convenience of display.
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Links
References
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Australian Institute of Marine Science, Australia. 3 volumes.
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