Melithaeidae

Melithaeidae is a family of corals in the suborder Scleraxonia. Members of the family are commonly known as sea fans and are found on reefs in the tropical regions of the Indo-Pacific.[2]

Melithaeidae
Melithaea ochracea at Bali, Indonesia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Octocorallia
Order: Alcyonacea
Suborder: Scleraxonia
Family: Melithaeidae
Gray, 1870 [1]
Genera

See text

Synonyms[1]
  • Melitodidae

Description

Members of the family Melithaeidae are arborescent colonial corals forming fans, bushes or trees. The axis or main skeletal "trunk" is jointed, there being nodes, flexible horny joints, separated by internodes composed of hard, calcareous material. The branches divide dichotomously at the nodes and these are often swollen. The minute calcareous spicules in the flexible membrane called the mesoglea that covers the skeleton are called sclerites. The exact shape of these spicules is important for identification purposes and in this family there are a range of different sclerites including foliate capstans and spheroids, plain spindles, plain capstans and small and large clubs. Members of this family do not have the unicellular symbiotic algae Zooxanthellae that grows in the tissues of many other corals.[2]

Genera

The World Register of Marine Species includes the following genera in the family:[1]

  • Asperaxis Alderslade, 2007
  • Melithaea Milne-Edwards, 1857

References
  1. van Ofwegen, Leen (2010). "Melithaeidae". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
  2. Family Melithaeidae Marine Species Identification Portal. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
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