White-tip
corallimorphs
Rhodactis indosinensis
Family Discosomidae
updated
Nov 2019
Where
seen? This small animal with white bulbous tips on its
tentacles is often seen in clusters of several tucked among dead and
living corals. Sometimes seen on some of our Southern shores.
Features: Diameter with tentacles extended 2-4cm. Tentacles many, thick with
bulbous tip, sometimes with a nipple; white or pale green. Body column
short, with narrow ridges, pale. Oral disk usually maroon brown. Central mouth slightly protruding. It doesn't seem to be able to tuck
its tentacles completely into the body column, although it can retract
the tentacles.
A study found that Rhodactis indosinensis can also look like Carpet corallimorphs.
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Kusu Island, Jun 12 |
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Terumbu Pempang Tengah, Jul 12
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Terumbu Pempang Tengah, Jul 12
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Terumbu Pempang Tengah, Jul 12
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*Species are difficult
to positively identify without close examination.
On this website, they are grouped by external features for convenience of
display.
White-tip
corallimorphs on Singapore shores |
Other sightings on Singapore shores |
Pulau Tekukor, Jun 16
Photo shared by Geraldine Lee on facebook. |
Pulau Tekukor, Mar 24
Photo shared by Richard Kuah on facebook. |
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Lazarus Island, Feb 21
Photo shared by Richard Kuah on facebook. |
Terumbu Buran, Jan 10
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on flickr. |
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Terumbu Semakau, May 10
Photo shared by James Koh on his
blog. |
Pulau Semakau South, Jul 15
Photo shared by Marcus Ng on facebook. |
Pulau Semakau East, Jan 16
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on facebook. |
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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