Animal Encyclopedia Category: Corals and Other Invertebrates

The bright orange, white-tipped structures along the flameback’s dorsal surface are called cerata and increase the surface area of the skin. This nudibranch absorbs oxygen through its skin, so increased surface area aids in respiration. The cerata also increase the number of defense cells that the flameback can store from its prey. The flameback, like all nudibranchs, is … Read more

Though this species spends most of its time crawling along the reef surface, it will swim when threatened, violently flapping its external gills and other appendages and displaying its brightest warning colors. This behavior reminded some observers of a flamenco dancer, earning the Spanish dancer its common name. Spanish dancers are specialized predators that prefer to … Read more

Using these stinging cells, the sea wasp hunts small fishes and pelagic invertebrates like swimming crabs or prawns. The cnidocytes are also the source of the powerful sting, and the stories of deaths caused by the sea wasp almost always involve a person being wrapped in multiple tentacles, with stings covering much of the body. There … Read more

Though it has “yellow” in its name, some yellow cup black corals can be a beautiful lime green color. The general name “black coral” refers to the color of the naked skeleton, not to the color of the live animal. Black corals are closely related to stony corals and anemones. Unlike shallow-water corals, most black corals … Read more

The eccentric sand dollar is a relatively small species (reaching sizes of only a few inches in diameter) that lives off the west coast of North America, from Alaska to Baja California. Though they are totally flat, these sand dollars are often observed buried in the sand on an edge with half of their bodies under … Read more

The lobe coral is a common reef-building coral that grows very large and builds large coral reefs throughout its range. This species is one of relatively few that live throughout the tropics, across the entire Indo-Pacific Ocean basin, from the Red Sea to the tropical eastern Pacific, where it is one of the most important … Read more

The grooved brain coral is named for its appearance. It looks amazingly like a human brain and has particularly deep grooves that resemble the brain’s folds. In deeper waters, it can even have a grayish appearance. It is a large, reef-building coral that lives throughout the Caribbean Sea and adjacent waters. The grooves may also … Read more

The largest known specimen of giant clam was over four and a half feet (1.3 m) wide and weighed approximately 550 pounds (250 kg). The large majority of a giant clam’s mass is in its shell, with the soft parts accounting for only approximately 10% of the weight. Like most corals, some anemones, and other reef organisms, … Read more

Like most corals and several other anemones, giant carpet anemones utilize a combination of methods to obtain food. The majority of their energy is derived from symbiotic algae living within their cells, providing the anemones with excess energy that they make via photosynthesis (the use of sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into food/energy). In return, the algae … Read more

The giant Caribbean sea anemone is a large anemone that lives on coral reefs throughout the Caribbean Sea. It is a predatory species and has the ability to move (by crawling very slowly), in order to reduce competition with nearby individuals or to increase the likelihood of successful reproduction This anemone is predatory and feeds … Read more