''Erythropodium caribaeorum'', commonly known as the encrusting gorgonian or encrusting polyps, is a species of

soft coral Alcyonacea, or soft corals, are an order of corals. In addition to the fleshy soft corals, the order Alcyonacea now contains all species previously known as "gorgonian corals", that produce a more or less hard skeleton, though quite different f ...

in the family

Anthothelidae Anthothelidae is a family (biology), family of corals, a member of the phylum Cnidaria. Genera Genera in this family include: * ''Alertigorgia'' Kükenthal, 1908 * ''Anthothela'' Verrill, 1879 * ''Briareopsis'' Bayer, 1993 * ''Erythropodium'' K� ...

. It inhabits coral reefs and rocky bottoms in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

, and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, growing at depths of 0.5 to 25 metres. ''E. caribaeorum'' is of interest from a

drug discovery In the fields of medicine, biotechnology and pharmacology, drug discovery is the process by which new candidate medications are discovered. Historically, drugs were discovered by identifying the active ingredient from traditional remedies or by ...

perspective because it produces eleutherobin, a

diterpene Diterpenes are a class of chemical compounds composed of four isoprene units, often with the molecular formula C20H32. They are biosynthesized by plants, animals and fungi via the HMG-CoA reductase pathway, with geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate being ...

glycoside with potential anticancer activity.

References

Corals described in 1860 Anthothelidae {{octocorallia-stub