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| soft corals text index | photo index |
| Phylum Cnidaria > Class Anthozoa > Subclass Alcyonaria/Octocorallia > Order Alcyonacea > Family Alcyoniidae |
| Smooth
leathery coral Sinularia sp.* Family Alcyoniidae updated Dec 11 Where seen? This large pink leathery coral is commonly seen on our Southern shores. On coral rubble. With the polyps retracted, the surface of the leathery tissue is quite smooth. When exposed at low tide, those with finger-like shapes may look like a pile of discarded rubber gloves! Features: Colony 20-50cm or larger. Sinularia species have among the greatest variation in colony shapes among soft corals. The colony may be encrusting with ridges, knobs or fingers, or tall with many lobes, branches, or flat disks, leafy or dish-shaped. The leathery common tissue usually pale pink or orange sometimes lilac. The surface of the common leathery tissue is smooth as there are only autozooid polyps and no siphonozooids. The autozooid polyps are tiny (0.5cm or smaller) with a short body column and 8 long tentacles with feathery branches. The autozooids can retract completely into the common tissue. Out of water, the surface of the common tissue has only one kind of hole, where the retracted autozooids are. The autozooid polyps may be the same colour as the common tissue or slightly darker. Sometimes confused with Pimply leathery soft coral (Lobophytum sp.) which have siphonozooids and thus has a pimply common tissue. |
 Cyrene Reef, Mar 07  |
 Pulau Semakau, Aug 11 |
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Smooth leathery corals on Singapore shores
 Sentosa, Aug 05 |
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 Pulau Hantu, Feb 08 |
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 Pulau Hantu, Jan 10 |
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 Terumbu Bemban, Jul 11 |
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more photos of smooth leathery corals on Singapore shores
part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4
*ID needs to be confirmed. Species are difficult to positively identify without close examination.
On this website, they are grouped by external features for convenience of display
| Sinularia
species recorded for Singapore from Y. Benayahu and L. M. Chou, 28 Feb 2010. On some Octocorallia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Alcyonacea) from Singapore and Y. Benayahu and L. P. van Ofwegen. Aug 2011. New species of the genus Sinularia (Octocorallia: Alcyonacea) from Singapore.
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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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