Stylophora madagascarensis
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| Stylophora madagascarensis | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Cnidaria |
| Subphylum: | Anthozoa |
| Class: | Hexacorallia |
| Order: | Scleractinia |
| Family: | Pocilloporidae |
| Genus: | Stylophora |
| Species: | S. madagascarensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Stylophora madagascarensis Veron, 2000[2] | |
Stylophora madagascarensis is a species of stony coral in the family Pocilloporidae. It is native to the tropical western Indian Ocean where it is confined to the coasts of Madagascar, growing in shallow water.
Stylophora madagascarensis is a colonial species of coral forming clumps of slender, compact branches with blunt ends. The branches are up to five millimetres (0.20 in) in diameter. The corallites (stony cups in which the polyps sit) are crowded and circular, with those near the tips of the branches often being hooded. The corallites have six septa (stony plates forming the wall of the corallite) fused to a central, style-like columella. The coenosteum (the coral's stony skeleton) is covered with tiny spines.[3] This is a zooxanthellate species of coral,[2] the tissues of which harbour single-celled dinoflagellates living in symbiosis with the coral and providing it with nourishment.[4] The polyps expand to feed at night and are retracted during the daytime. This coral is pale brown in colour, sometimes with pinkish bases to the branches.[3]
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