Octocorals

Soft Corals

Soft coral is also known as Alcyonacea and ahermatypic coral, which is a type of coral that does not secrete calcium carbonate skeleton or forms reefs. They are normally colorful and look like underwater plants that swing with the wave in the ocean. They are colonial, and often times little polyps combine together to form a large organism.

Structure and Biology

Soft corals have sclerites, which is a spiky skeleton element that soft coral secretes that supports their vertical structure as well as give them texture. They also has gorgonin in the inner core of their colony, which is a type of fibrous protein that enables the flexibility of soft corals and their swinging movement along with the ocean waves (NOAA). Their polyps are anatomically different.

Suborders

+Suborders of Soft Corals

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Alcyoniina

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Calcaxonia

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Holaxonia

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Protoalcyonaria

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Scleraxonia

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Stolonifera

Class Photos from the US/British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean

• Gorgonians