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| soft corals text index | photo index |
| Phylum Cnidaria > Class Anthozoa > Subclass Alcyonaria/Octocorallia > Order Alcyonacea > Family Alcyoniidae |
| Pimply
leathery coral Lobophytum sp.* Family Alcyoniidae updated Dec 11 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. Sometimes confused with Smooth leathery soft coral (Sinularia sp.) which does not have siphonozooids and thus has a smooth common tissue. |
 Pulau Semakau, Sep 05  |
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Pimply leathery corals on Singapore shores
 Pulau Hantu, Apr 06 |
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 Terumbu Pempang Laut, Apr 11 |
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 Cyrene Reef, Mar 07  |
 Pulau Hantu, Mar 05  |
 Pulau Jong, Jul 06  |
more photos of pimply leathery corals on Singapore shores
part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5
*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 and the Museum and Art
Gallery of the Northern Territoriy. 264 pp|
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