''Agaricia'' is a genus of

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 a ...

stony corals Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc in which a mo ...

in the family

Agariciidae The Agariciidae are a family of reef-building stony corals. This family includes cactus corals, plate corals, and lettuce corals. Members of the family include symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae in their tissues which help provide their energ ...

. These corals are found in shallow waters of the West Indies.

Characteristics

Corals in this genus have several different forms but are usually massive, leaf-like or plate-like. Members of the genus are distinguished from other corals by having no walls to the

corallite A corallite is the skeletal cup, formed by an individual stony coral polyp, in which the polyp sits and into which it can retract. The cup is composed of aragonite, a crystalline form of calcium carbonate, and is secreted by the polyp. Corallit ...

s but having clearly delineated septocostae that connect each corallite to its neighbours.

Species

The World Register of Marine Species recognises the following species: *''

Agaricia agaricites ''Agaricia agaricites'', commonly known as lettuce coral or tan lettuce-leaf coral, is a species of colonial stony corals in the family Agariciidae. This coral is found in shallow waters in the tropical western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean S ...

'' (Linnaeus, 1758) *''

Agaricia fragilis ''Agaricia'' is a genus of colonial stony corals in the family Agariciidae. These corals are found in shallow waters of the West Indies. Characteristics Corals in this genus have several different forms but are usually massive, leaf-like or pla ...

'' Dana, 1846 *''

Agaricia grahamae ''Agaricia'' is a genus of colonial stony corals in the family Agariciidae. These corals are found in shallow waters of the West Indies. Characteristics Corals in this genus have several different forms but are usually massive, leaf-like or pla ...

'' Wells, 1973 *''

Agaricia humilis ''Agaricia'' is a genus of colonial stony corals in the family Agariciidae. These corals are found in shallow waters of the West Indies. Characteristics Corals in this genus have several different forms but are usually massive, leaf-like or pla ...

'' Verrill, 1901 *''

Agaricia lamarcki ''Agaricia'' is a genus of colonial stony corals in the family Agariciidae. These corals are found in shallow waters of the West Indies. Characteristics Corals in this genus have several different forms but are usually massive, leaf-like or pla ...

'' Milne Edwards & Haime, 1851 *''

Agaricia tenuifolia ''Agaricia tenuifolia'', commonly known as thin leaf lettuce coral, is a species of colonial stony coral in the family Agariciidae. This coral is found in shallow waters in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. Description In sheltered waters, ...

'' Dana, 1846 *''

Agaricia undata ''Agaricia'' is a genus of colonial stony corals in the family Agariciidae. These corals are found in shallow waters of the West Indies. Characteristics Corals in this genus have several different forms but are usually massive, leaf-like or pla ...

'' (Ellis & Solander, 1786)

References

Agariciidae Taxa named by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Scleractinia genera {{scleractinia-stub