Corallimorpharia

Corallimorpharia
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Cnidaria
Class:	Hexacorallia
Order:	Corallimorpharia; Stephenson, 1937
Families
	Corallimorphidae; Discosomidae; Ricordeidae; Sideractinidae;
Synonyms
	Coralliomorpharia;

Corallimorpharia is an order of marine cnidarians closely related to stony or reef building corals (Scleractinia). They occur in both temperate and tropical climates, although they are mostly tropical. Temperate forms tend to be very robust, with wide and long columns, whereas tropical forms tend to have very short columns with a wide oral disc and very short tentacles. The tentacles are usually arranged in rows radiating from the mouth. Many species occur together in large groups, although there are recorded instances of individuals. In many respects, they resemble the stony corals, except for the absence of a stony skeleton. Morphological and molecular evidence suggests that they are very closely related to stony corals.

Corallimorpharians occur in a wide range of marine habitats, and can be associated with phase shifts in coral reef ecosystems that result in a change from a hard-coral dominated reef to a soft-coral dominated one. They have been observed to overgrow reefs in a carpet formation. Many species are also common invertebrates kept in marine aquaria.

Taxonomy

According to World Register of Marine Species, this order contains 46 species within 11 genera:

Family Corallimorphidae Hertwig, 1882
- Genus Corallimorphus Moseley, 1877 -- 6 species
- Genus Corynactis Allman, 1846 -- 14 species
- Genus Paracorynactis Ocaña, den Hartog, Brito & Bos, 2010 -- 1 species
Family Discosomidae Verrill, 1869
- Genus Amplexidiscus Dunn & Hamner, 1980 -- 1 species
- Genus Discosoma Rüppell & Leuckart, 1828 -- 11 species
- Genus Metarhodactis Carlgren, 1943 -- 1 species
- Genus Platyzoanthus Saville-Kent, 1893 -- 1 species
- Genus Rhodactis Milne Edwards & Haime, 1851 -- 7 species
Family Ricordeidae Watzl, 1922
- Genus Ricordea Duchassaing de Fonbressin & Michelotti, 1860 -- 2 species
Family Sideractinidae Danielssen, 1890
- Genus Nectactis Gravier, 1918 -- 1 species
- Genus Sideractis Danielssen, 1890 -- 1 species

References

^ "Corallimorpharia". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
^ WoRMS (2011). "Corallimorpharia". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2011-12-15.

UFL Zoology - Cnidaria^{[permanent dead link]}
Barnes, Robert D. (1982). Invertebrate Zoology. Philadelphia, PA: Holt-Saunders International. p. 170. ISBN 0-03-056747-5.

External links

Data related to Discosomatidae at Wikispecies

This Hexacorallia related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] "Corallimorpharia". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2011-12-15.

[2] WoRMS (2011). "Corallimorpharia". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2011-12-15.

[1]

[2]