corallimorphs text index | photo index
Phylum Cnidaria > Class Anthozoa > Subclass Zoantharia/Hexacorallia > Order Corallimorpharia
Ball-tip corallimorphs
Corynactis sp.
Family Corallimorphidae
updated Nov 2019
Where seen? This small animal with little balls at the tips of its transparent tentacles is seen growing on hard surfaces. Rocks and coral rubble in clusters of a few individuals. Sometimes seen on some of our shores.

Features: Diameter with tentacles extended 1.5-4cm. Tentacles many, long thin, transparent with a ball-shaped tip that is usually white or a bright colour. Body column smooth, colours seen include brown, orange, red, pink, bright blue. Oral disk usually brown with whitish or paler centre. Central mouth conical, often pale and usually protruding even when the tentacles are tucked into the body column.

Chek Jawa, Jul 11

Conical mouth protruding.


Pulau Ubin, Dec 09

Changi, Oct 09

Pulau Ubin, Dec 10

*Species are difficult to positively identify without close examination.
On this website, they are grouped by external features for convenience of display.

Ball-tip corallimorphs on Singapore shores
On wildsingapore flickr

Other sightings on Singapore shores


Pulau Ubin, Jul 17
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on facebook.

Beting Bronok, Jul 19
Photo shared by Abel Yeo on facebook.


Sentosa Tg Rimau, Apr 21
Photo shared by Richard Kuah on facebook.

Sentosa Serapong, May 23
Photo shared by Kelvin Yong on facebook.


Cyrene Reef, Jun 10
Photo shared by James Koh on his blog.

Cyrene Reef, Aug 10
Shared by Neo Mei Lin on her blog.

Seringat Kias, Apr 12
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on his blog.


Sisters Island, Sep 10
Photo shared by Toh Chay Hoon on her blog.

Pulau Hantu, Oct 14
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on flickr.

Terumbu Pempang Tengah, May 11
Photo shared by Sam Yeo on facebook.


Tanah Merah, Aug 09
Photo shared by James Koh on his blog.

Pulau Senang, Aug 10

Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on his flickr.

Pulau Senang, Jun 10
Photo shared by Toh Chay Hoon on her flickr.


Pulau Berkas, Feb 22
Photo shared by Toh Chay Hoon on facebook.

Acknowledgement
Grateful thanks to Prof Daphne Fautin for identifying this animal as a corallimorph.

Links

  • Corallimorpharia on The Biodiversity of Singapore website, Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.

References

  • Ren Min Oh, Mei Lin Neo, Nicholas Wei Liang Yap, Sudhanshi Sanjeev Jain, Ria Tan, Chaolun Allen Chen and Danwei Huang Citizen science meets integrated taxonomy to uncover the diversity and distribution of Corallimorpharia in Singapore, The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Volume 67, Pp. 306-321.
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