Marine Wildlife Encyclopedia
Mushroom Leather Coral Sarcophyton species
This distinctive soft coral has a conspicuous bare stalk topped by a wide, fleshy cap covered in polyps. When the colony is touched or is resting, the polyps are withdrawn into the fleshy body, and it looks and feels like leather. Within this genus there are many similar species.
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- Class Anthozoa
- Diameter Up to 5 ft (1.5 m)
- Depth 0–165 ft (0–50 m)
- Habitat Rocks and reefs
- Distribution Tropical waters of Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and western and central Pacific
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