The Pocilloporidae are a family of stony corals in the order Scleractinia occurring in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Description
Pocilloporids are
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
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* Colonial (1920 a ...
and most species are reef-building. They are very variable in size and shape, some being submassive and others arborescent or ramose. 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 are small and vary from being sunken to being raised cones. The columellae are well developed and the septa may be fused with them. The coenosteum lining the skeleton is covered with spinules. The Pocilloporidae are closely related to the other coral families,
Astrocoeniidae
Astrocoeniidae is a family of stony corals. The family is distributed across the tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide.Acroporidae.
Biology
The genera in this family are polymorphic, differing in growth form according to their habitat, but showing similar growth forms in response to light availability and wave action. The colonies are
hermaphrodite
In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes.
Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...
s. The sperm is liberated into the sea and finds its way into other polyps. After internal fertilisation, the planulalarvae are brooded by the parent before being ejected into the water column. This means the dispersal distances are small, but the likelihood of finding a suitable substrate on which to settle are raised.''Pocillopora inflata'' IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
Genera
The World Register of Marine Species lists these
genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...
in the family:-
* '' Madracis'' Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849
* '' Pocillopora'' Lamarck, 1816
* ''
Seriatopora
''Seriatopora'' is a genus of colonial stony corals in the family Pocilloporidae. They are commonly known as needle corals, birdsnest corals or finger corals. They are native to the Red Sea, the Indo-Pacific region and some parts of the Central ...
'' Lamarck, 1816
* ''
Stylophora
The stylophorans are an extinct, possibly polyphyletic group allied to the Paleozoic Era echinoderms, comprising the prehistoric cornutes and mitrates. It is synonymous with the subphylum Calcichordata. Their unusual appearances have led to a va ...