Discosoma
Genus of corals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Discosoma is a genus of cnidarians in the order Corallimorpharia. Common names for the genus include mushroom anemone, disc anemone and elephant ear mushroom.[4]
| Discosoma | |
|---|---|
| |
| A red mushroom coral | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Cnidaria |
| Subphylum: | Anthozoa |
| Class: | Hexacorallia |
| Order: | Corallimorpharia |
| Family: | Discosomidae |
| Genus: | Discosoma Rüppell & Leuckart, 1828[1] |
| Species | |
|
See text | |
| Synonyms | |
Most species are disc-shaped and produce large amounts of mucus.[4] There are a great variety of colors, including metallic and fluorescent shades and striped and spotted patterns.[4] Discosoma gather food particles from the water. Some species absorb nutrients produced by zooxanthellae, photosynthetic dinoflagellates living in their tissues in a symbiotic relationship.[4]
Some species are sold commercially in the aquarium trade.[4]
The red fluorescent protein dTomato which has applications in molecular biology as a reporter protein was first derived from the species.[5]
There are approximately 11 recognized species:[6]
- Discosoma album
- Discosoma carlgreni – Forked-tentacle corallimorpharian
- Discosoma dawydoffi
- Discosoma fowleri
- Discosoma fungiforme
- Discosoma molle
- Discosoma neglecta – Umbrella corallimorpharian
- Discosoma nummiforme
- Discosoma rubraoris
- Discosoma unguja
- Discosoma viridescens
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