Name: Leather mushroom coral
Scientific Name: Sarcophyton sp.
Family: Alcyoniidae
Group: Anemones, corals and jellyfish
Class: Invertebrates
Size: 51-100 cm.
This soft coral is shaped like a mushroom. It has a fleshy stocky base where the colony is attached to the substrate and an upper section that looks plumose due to its numerous sets of polyps in groups of eight. These are responsible for sieving plankton from the water. Polyps will retract when not feedings or simply when stressed.They will strive in slanted areas of the reef, which is where polyps have the most abundant quantities of plankton at their disposal. Leather mushroom corals include some of the rarest coral species and their skeletons are highly prized by the jewellery industry as, once carved and polished, they make phenomenal (and valuable!) works of art.
Photo by:
Abílio Leitão
Living coral reef
