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Pimply
leathery coral
awaiting identification*
Family Alcyoniidae
updated
Oct 08
Where
seen? This large long-fingered leathery coral is sometimes
seen on our Southern shores. On coral rubble.
Features:
Colony 20-40cm or larger. The colony usually looks like a mushroom;
with a flat, broad disk attached to a hard surface by a very short,
very broad central base. The edge of the disk usually is fringed with
long cylindrical finger-like protrusions. When out of water, the colony
flops over and may look like a pile of discarded rubber gloves! There
are no ridges sticking out of the disk. The leathery common tissue
usually pinkish sometimes with tinges of purple.
The colony has both autozooids and siphonozooids. Autozooid polyps
have short fat body columns (about 1cm) with 8 branched tentacles
that are usually white. The siphonozooids do not emerge from the body
membrane, but so form 'pimples' on the surface. Siphonozooids function
to pump water through the colony. The autozooids can retract completely
into the common tissue. Out of water, the surface of the common tissue
has two different kinds of holes; bigger ones where the retracted
autozooids are, and smaller ones where the siphonozooids are. |

Pulau Semakau, Sep 05

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Pimply
leathery corals on Singapore shores

Pulau Hantu, Apr 06
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Cyrene Reef, Mar 07
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Pulau Hantu, Mar 05
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Pulau Jong,
Jul 06
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more photos of pimply
leathery corals on Singapore shores
part 1 | part 2
| part 3 | part 4
*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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