''Antipathes dendrochristos'', commonly known as Christmas tree coral, is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
colonial coral
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...
in the order
Antipatharia,
the black corals, so named because their calcareous skeletons are black.
References
Animals described in 2005
Antipathidae
{{hexacorallia-stub