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| corallimorphs text index | photo index |
| Phylum Cnidaria > Class Anthozoa > Subclass Zoantharia/Hexacorallia > Order Corallimorpharia |
| Carpet
corallimorph Rhodactis indosinensis Family Discosomidae updated Nov 2019 Where seen? This shaggy disk-shaped animal is commonly encountered on many of our Southern shores, on coral rubble. Features: Each polyp about 2-4cm in diameter. Sometimes seen in large numbers, carpeting an area of 30-50cm square. |
 Sisters Islands, Dec 03 |
 Underside smooth and brown, edge fringed with short tentacles. |
 Upturned mouth. |
| Each polyp has lots of short, thin tentacles that densely cover the
oral disk, so that the entire group of animals appears to be a living
shaggy carpet. Tentacles with tiny rounded tip, sometimes white or
other bright colour. In some, each tentacle appears to be branched
at the tips. The small upturned mouth is usually hidden by the tentacles.
The edge of the oral disk is fringed with short tentacles. The oral
disk may have fine radiating lines in a different colour. The underside is smooth and brown. The animal can tuck its oral disk into the body column when it is exposed out of water. Seen in a wide range of colours: in shades of beige, pink, orange to green, blue and purple. A study found that Rhodactis indosinensis can also look like White-tip corallimorphs. |
 Pulau Hantu, Jul 07 |
 Each tentacle appears to be branched at the tips. |
 Sisters Island, May 12  Can retract into the body column. |
 Pulau Semakau, May 08  Tips rounded often white. |
 Terumbu Semakau, Jun 12  Unidentifed purple strings: eggs? |
*Species are difficult to positively identify without close examination.
On this website, the animals are grouped by external features for convenience of display.
| Carpet corallimorphs on Singapore shores |
On wildsingapore
flickr
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| Other sightings on Singapore shores |
 Terumbu Berkas, Jan 10 |
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Links
References
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