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The blue coral is the only extant octocoral with a massive skeleton, [3] which is composed of fibrocrystalline aragonite (calcium carbonate). It is a hermatypic zooxanthellaete species with either blue or green-grey polyps located within its skeleton, with each containing eight tentacles. Its colonies are either columnar, plate like or branched.
The blue color of the skeleton (which is covered with a layer of brown polyps) is caused by iron salts. Blue coral can be used in tropical aquaria, and the crystalline calcareous fibres in the skeletons can be used for jewelry. Individual polyps have eight feathery tentacles and, in the gastrovascular cavity, eight septa, or partitions. Cilia ...
Blue coral snake venom has only occasionally caused human deaths. [6] This species has unusually long venom glands, extending to 25% of the length of the body. [6] The venom contains a neurotoxin, Calliotoxin, that causes near instantaneous paralysis by delaying inactivation of the prey's sodium channels. [7]
Octocorallia (also known as Alcyonaria) is a class of Anthozoa comprising over 3,000 species [1] of marine organisms formed of colonial polyps with 8-fold symmetry. It includes the blue coral, soft corals, sea pens, and gorgonians (sea fans and sea whips) within three orders: Alcyonacea, Helioporacea, and Pennatulacea. [2]
Heliopora coerulea (Pallas, 1766) - blue coral Heliopora fijiensis † Hoffmeister, 1945 Heliopora hiberniana Richards, Yasuda, Kikuchi, Foster, Mitsuyuki, Stat, Suyama & Wilson, 2018 [ 2 ]
Montipora flabellata, known by the common name blue rice coral, is a species of coral in the family Acroporidae. It is found growing on coral reefs in tropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is known to be endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Consequently, the term "gorgonian coral" is commonly handed to multiple species in the order Alcyonacea that produce a mineralized skeletal axis (or axial-like layer) composed of calcite and the proteinaceous material gorgonin only and corresponds to only one of several families within the formally accepted taxon Gorgoniidae (Scleractinia).
While most fire corals are yellow or orange, they can also be found in shades of brown, green, and even blue, providing a vibrant display underwater. [1] Fire coral has several common growth forms; these include branching, plate, and encrusting. Branching fire coral adopts a calcareous structure which branches off into rounded, finger-like tips.