''Euphyllia glabrescens'' is a species of large-polyped

stony coral 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 ...

belonging to the family

Caryophylliidae The Caryophylliidae are a family of stony corals found from the tropics to temperate seas, and from shallow to very deep water. Genera *'' Africana'' Ocana & Brito, 2015 *'' Anomocora'' Studer, 1878 *'' Asterosmilia'' Duncan, 1867 *'' Auloc ...

. Its common name is the torch coral due to its long sweeper tentacles tipped with potent

cnidocyte A cnidocyte (also known as a cnidoblast or nematocyte) is an explosive cell containing one large secretory organelle called a cnidocyst (also known as a cnida () or nematocyst) that can deliver a sting to other organisms. The presence of this ce ...

s. It is a commonly kept species in the

marine aquarium A marine aquarium is an aquarium that keeps ocean, marine plants and animals in a contained environment. Marine aquaria are further subdivided by hobbyists into fish only (FO), fish only with live rock (FOWLR), and reef aquarium, reef aquaria. Fi ...

hobby, particularly specimens from

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

and

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

, who fulfilled annual export quotas of 28,000 and 6,000 pieces, respectively, in 2005.

Description

''Euphyllia glabrescens'' is a colonial coral with a phaceloid formation of

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 20-30 millimeters (0.8 - 1.2 inches) in diameter and spaced 15-30 millimeters (0.6 - 1.2 inches) apart. Walls are thin, with sharp edges. Polyps have large tubular tentacles with knob-like tips. It can be a number of colors, and is often bicolored with contrasting tentacles and polyp tips. File:Euphyllia glabrescens (Hard coral) with polyps extended.jpg, Green, yellow tipped File:Euphyllia glabrescens Hulhudhoo.JPG, Beige, green tipped File:Euphyllia glabrescens.jpg, Beige, white tipped

Distribution & habitat

This is a widely distributed species, rare to the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

and the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden ( ar, خليج عدن, so, Gacanka Cadmeed 𐒅𐒖𐒐𐒕𐒌 𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒗𐒒) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channe ...

, while uncommon through the northern Indian Ocean, the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

, the central

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

, Australia, Southeast Asia, southern Japan and the

East China Sea The East China Sea is an arm of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. It covers an area of roughly . The sea’s northern extension between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula is the Yellow Sea, separated b ...

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

, and

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...

. ''Euphyllia glabrescens'' can be founds in depths of 1 to 35 meters (3 – 115 feet) in a wide range of reef environments

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3942668 Euphylliidae Animals described in 1821