Marine Species Identification Portal : Dwarf cup coral

Dwarf cup coral
Astrangia solitaria
(Lesueur, 1817)

Description:
Colonies are composed of relatively few (usually less than 20) cylindrical corallites, budded extratentacularly from narrow, thin, stolons. A continuous coenosteum between or among the corallites is rarely present, and the stoloniferous connection is usually encrusted or abraded, resulting in the apparent or actual isolation of individual corallites. Most corallites 4 to 6 mm in diameter and 4 to 8 mm in height.
The corallites bear broad, flat, granular costae, separated from one another by thin, shallow intercostal striae. Costal granules low and rounded. Septa hexamerally arranged in four cycles, a full complement of 48 septa is rarely achieved, 36 septa being the most common number.

Color:
Corallites usually uniformly light brown or light brown in the distal half, grading to white on the lower half. Occasionally the corallites are entirely white.

Habitat:
It is commonly attached to dead coral rubble and the undersides of platy corals, down to 40 m.

Distribution:
It is one of the most common azooxanthellate corals in the western Atlantic. Occasional in Florida, Bahamas and Caribbean.

Dwarf cup coral (Astrangia solitaria)