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| hard corals text index | photo index |
| Phylum Cnidaria > Class Anthozoa > Subclass Zoantharia/Hexacorallia > Order Scleractinia > Family Merulinidae > Hydnophora sp. |
| Boulder
horn coral Hydnophora exesa* Family Merulinidae updated Nov 2019 Where seen? This boulder-shaped hard coral with conical bumps are sometimes seen on our Southern shores. Features: Colonies (15-20cm, sometimes much larger), boulder-shaped with irregular lumps and hillocks. The unique feature of the Hydnophora corals are the small conical mounds (0.5cm or smaller), called monticules (also hydnae or hydnophores), that form where the corallite walls of adjacent polyps fuse together. In these boulder-shaped colonies, monticules may be conical short, or long, forming valleys along the surface of the colony. Polyps have short blunt tentacles that surround the base of each monticule. The skeleton is hidden when the tentacles are expanded. Colours seen include brown, green and blue. |
 Pulau Hantu, Apr 06 |
 Long conical mounds called monticules. |
 Polyp mouths between the monticules. |
 Tentacles surround the monticules. |
 Cyrene Reef, May 08  Monticules may form meandering valleys. |
 Sisters Island, May 07  Small mouths between monticules. |
 Pulau Hantu, Feb 10  |
*Species are difficult to positively identify without close examination.
On this website, they are grouped by external features for convenience of display.
| Boulder horn corals on Singapore shores |
On wildsingapore
flickr
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| Other sightings on Singapore shores |
 Labrador, Aug 02  |
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