Animal Encyclopedia Category: Corals and Other Invertebrates

Wherever it lives, the lophelia coral builds structure that provides habitat for many kinds of invertebrates and fishes. Some lophelia coral reefs can be enormous, stretching for several miles and rising to at least 100 feet (30 m) above the seafloor. Lophelia coral reefs of this size may be tens of thousands of years old. Individual living lophelia … Read more

Shallow-water populations are known to have symbiotic algae living within their cells, providing the corals with excess energy that they make via photosynthesis (the use of sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into food/energy). Nearly all species of shallow-water corals and several other groups of reef invertebrates have symbiotic relationships with these algae. On deep reefs, however, there … Read more

Like most sea cucumbers, the edible sea cucumber is a scavenger. It crawls along soft bottoms near coral reefs and seagrass beds ingesting sand and mud in its path. It separates out and digests any plant or animal matter and passes the sand, leaving a trail of clean sand behind. The edible sea cucumber feeds throughout the day and … Read more

The yellow tube sponge is a relatively large sponge (to over 3 feet/1 m) that lives on coral reefs around the Caribbean Sea and its adjacent waters. The common name is an accurate description of the species, with individuals typically having a yellowish color (sometimes almost iridescent yellow-blue at deeper depths) and consisting of one … 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