Zooplankton feeding by corals underestimated
Research by marine biologists from Wageningen University has shown that feeding on zooplankton by scleractinian corals has been greatly underestimated.
| Euphyllia paradivisa |
| Written by Tim Wijgerde |
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Taxonomy: Euphyllia paradivisa (Veron, 1990) Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Cnidaria Class: Anthozoa Subclass: Hexacorallia Order: Scleractinia Family: Euphyllidae Genus: Euphyllia Species: paradivisa
Euphyllia paradivisa is a well-known member of the Euphyllidae family, and is often confused with E. divisa. The subtle difference between these species lies in the morphology of the corallum. E. paradivisa has a branching skeleton with separate corallites, also referred to as phaceloid, whereas E. divisa displays flabello-meandroid morphology. E. paradivisa occurs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, west from Sumatra (Indonesia) to West-Papua (Indonesia) in the east, north to the Philippines and south to northern Australia. It is common in the aquarium trade. Anemone fish from the genus Amphiprion often associate with these corals in home aquaria when natural host anemones are lacking. Author: Tim Wijgerde References: Veron, J.E.N. and M. Stafford Smith, 2000. Corals of the world. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville. 1382 pp |