Mushroom coral 

Fungiidae
Close-up of Fungia scutaria
Close-up of Fungia scutaria
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Anthozoa
Order: Scleractinia
Family: Fungiidae
Genera

See text.

Fungiidae (pronounced /fən-gɪ-ɪ-daː/) is a family of Cnidaria that contains the mushroom corals (sometimes known as disc corals, solitary corals or plate corals).

Contents

Characteristics

Species are generally solitary marine animals that are capable of benthic locomotion.12 These corals often appear to be bleached or dead.3 In most genera, a single polyp emerges from the center of the skeleton to feed at night. Most species remain fully detached from the substrate in adulthood. Some are immobile as well as colonial.45

Genera

Notable species

Notes

 This article uses bare URLs for citations, which are susceptible to link rot.
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  1. ^ Halstead, Bob. 2000. Coral Sea Reef Guide. Sea Challengers, Danville, CA, USA.
  2. ^ http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fungiidae.htm
  3. ^ http://www.reefs.org/library/aquarium_net/1097/1097_4.html
  4. ^ http://www.biolib.cz/en/taxon/id322018
  5. ^ http://tolweb.org/Fungioidea/19109
  6. ^ http://www.biolib.cz/en/taxon/id322018
  7. ^ http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=7192

Gallery

Heliofungia sp. looks strikingly similar to a sea anemone.

Fungia sp. in Papua New Guinea.

Herpolitha limax in Micronesia can appear bleached and also resemble a sea cucumber.

See also

External links

Wikispecies
Wikispecies has information related to:
Fungiidae
Wikimedia Commons has more pictures of: Fungiidae