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Stony Corals, Order Scleractinia: play a minor role here. There are
occasional stands of acroporids, either branching Acropora or more demure
encrusting colonies of Montipora, but these are the exception rather than
dominant organisms. Occasionally one of a few Goniopora species will dominate a
bommie, coral rock area.
| Acropora hemprichii (Ehrenberg 1834), family
Acroporidae. Irregularly
branched with radial corallites as open thickets, large, round, upright,
conical. Axial corallites common, prostate, of thick smooth walls. Most
are brown to pink in color, some blue. Red Sea images. |
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| Goniopora columna Dana 1846, family Poritidae. Colonies as tufts on
short columns. Corallites vary depending on position. Ones toward the
center of colonies have fine columella and septa; those on the side more
robust structures. Polyps have large central cones. Indo-Western Pacific.
Queensland close-up and Red Sea images. |
 
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| Goniopora lobata Milne Edwards and Haime 1860.
Colonies as columns with growth. Large (more than 5mm.) corallites with
small columellae and oral cones; elongate in appearance on full extension.
Tentacles and oral cones typically white in color; contrasting with polyps
which are otherwise brown, tan or green. Below left in Queensland,
Australia., and broken and whole colonies in the Red Sea. |
| Favia laxa (Klunzinger 1879), family Faviidae.
Hemispherical colonies whose corallites are conical, showing both extra-
and intertentacular budding. Paliform lobes look like an internal crown.
Fine line of demarcation between costae. Pale to pinkish brown in color.
Common in the Red Sea where this picture was made. |
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| Favia stelligera (Dana 1846), family Faviidae. Colonies of round to
columnar/colonial in appearance, sometimes a few meters across. Uniform
septa and walls (not shared). Brown to green in color. Red Sea upper gulf
photos. |
 
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| Galaxea astreata Lamarck 1816. Generally smaller
corallites than G. fascicularis (3-5 versus 10 millimeter diameter), an
important characteristic as these are the two common species of this genus
and their extensive ranges overlap greatly. Tentacles usually only out at
night. A close-up of a small colony in Cebu, P.I. |
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| Galaxea fascicularis Linnaeus 1767). Captive colonies
are ball-shaped, in the wild more like low-lying cushions that may extend
meters over the bottom. Corallites well-separated with blade-like septa
that may rise more than a cm. above the corallite wall. Occur in grays, greens and browns.
Transparent tentacles out
during the day, generally with contrasting colored tips. Here in the Red
Sea. |
 
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| Plerogyra sinuosa (Dana 1846), family
Euphylliidae (formerly Caryophylliidae).
Flabello-meandroid skeleton as shown, with grape-like variable vesicles
that are slow to retract (but still can/do sting). Typically found in
turbid water. Below: Skeleton close-up a small and large colony in
the Red Sea. |
Sea Anemones, Order Actinaria, occur throughout the Red Sea at
moderate depths. There are three principal species that are mutuals of the single species of
Clownfish found here (and occasionally a batch of Dascyllus). Occasionally you
may find a "Pizza Anemone". If so, do look closely for its commensals.
| Heteractis magnifica
(Quoy & Gaimard 1833), the
Magnificent Sea Anemone. Found in open areas, attached to a solid object.
Base of solid purple, blue, green, red, white or brown color. Oral disc
flat with barely tapering, finger-like tentacles up to a meter
across. Specimen at Anemone City, Ras Mohamed at right engulfed in a
wash of Dascyllus trimaculatus. |
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| Heteractis
crispa (Ehrenberg 1834), the Leathery Sea Anemone. Often mis-sold/identified
in the trade as H. ritteri and the commonest species in the market
as the "Sebae Anenome". Has numerous long, tapering tentacles
that end in points. Column gray in color. A
specimen in the Red Sea.
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| Entacmaea quadricolor (Ruppell & Leuckart 1828), the
Bubble-Tip or Bulb-Tentacle Sea Anemone. This is historically the hardiest of large,
naturally symbiotic Clownfish anemones for aquarium use... many more
specimens are collected and received in tact, in reasonably good health
from the wild to distributors. A colonial grouping and a
close-up image of the Bubble-Tip Anemone and the Clownfish, Amphiprion
bicinctus in the Red Sea. |
 
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| Cryptodendrum adhaesivum Klunzinger 1877, the
Adhesive Sea Anemone, aka as the Pizza Anemone for obvious reasons. Not often seen, used in the aquarium interest due to
the species extremely sticky short tentacles and propensity for tearing in
moving. Only one Clownfish species is found in it in the wild, the Clarkii.
Red Sea image and commensal "Sexy Shrimp", Thor amboinensis |
 
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Worms of Many Kinds, but particularly the Polychaete Annelids mainly
knowns as "bristleworms" to aquarium hobbyists exist in good numbers
of individuals and species in the Red Sea. Other worm groups, worm-like animals
exist here in abundance; Peanut Worms (phylum Sipuncula), Tongue Worms (phylum
Echiura), Ribbon Worms (phylum Nemertea), Acorn Worms (phylum Hemichordata), but
these are rarely encountered by aquarists, or divers, unless they're digging
about, searching for them.
Molluscs: We've mentioned the Giant Clams, family Tridacnidae above. There
are some notable, common bivalves as well:
| Limaria fragilis Gmelin 1791, the Fragile File Shell.
Indo-Pacific; Red Sea to Japan, Australia. Takes a beating if stocked with
many types of fishes, crustaceans. Needs to be inserted in rock cover.
Need frequent "immersion type" feedings... daily. Queensland,
Australian photo. |
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Crustaceans exist in all marine environments in the Red Sea, and the
Sandy Slope and beneath it are no exceptions. There are twenty plus species of
Stomatopods (Mantis Shrimp) for instance; though the few species utilized in
ornamental aquatics rarely are collected here. The principal species utilized
are the commensal and mutual shrimp species largely gathered elsewhere. There
are many true Crabs here, but most hobbyists resist housing these opportunistic
omnivores for fear they'll eat there other livestock.
| Periclimenes longicarpus Red Sea, Arabian Sea endemic.
Usually associated with the Bubble Tip Anemone, Entacmaea quadricolor,
here on a Bubble Coral, Plerogyra sinousa. There are at least 45
species of commensal shrimps of the subfamily Pontiinae in the Red Sea. |
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| Thor amboinensis (de Man 1888), the Squat Anemone or Sexy
Shrimp (in reference to its usually-raised tail).
1/4-3/4" long. Common in all tropical seas. Found in
association with Giant, Sun, Elegant Anemones. Here is a pair (female
larger) in a Pizza Anemone, Cryptodendrum adhaesivum. |
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| Snapping Shrimps, family Alpheidae. Noted for their
noise making capacity, myths re the power of their large claw (a .22
caliber, tank-cracking...) and commensal to mutualistic relationships with
fishes (mainly Gobies) and invertebrates. At least ninety five species are
recorded from the Red Sea. |
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Hermit Crabs, infraorder Anomura. There are about four dozen species
of Hermits in seven families described from the Red Sea. Most are of dubious
value (to destructive) in marine, especially reef aquariums. I'll list a few of
the more commonly encountered in the trade that can be found here.
| Trizopagurus strigatus (Herbst 1804), the Striped or
Halloween Hermit Crab. Indo-Pacific and Red Sea. To a little over two
inches in length. Nocturnal. Lives in empty Cone shells. Feed on live
and dead animal material. |
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| Dardanus tinctor, a Coral Hermit Crab. This one with
its Calliactis polypus Anemones out at night in the Red Sea.
To 10 cm. Large left claw. Nocturnal; omnivorous. Moves anemones when
transferring to new shells. |
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| Dardanus lagopodes (Forsskal 1775), the Blade-eyed
Hermit Crab. Indo-Pacific, including the Red Sea. To a little over two
inches in length. White eye stalks, body mottled in maroon, brown, covered
with white-tipped bristles. This one in Aitutaki, Cook Islands. |
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Spiny Skinned Animals, phylum Echinodermata. The Red Sea Sandy Slope
has a number of echinoderms, but most are either too touchy or too large for
aquarium use. One Sea Cucumber that is found here does make it into the trade.
Holothuria edulis Lesson 1830, the
Edible Sea Cucumber (no thanks, I'm full). Indo-Pacific; Red Sea to
Hawai'i. Lives in the open, on sand, seagrass beds, under rocks. Substrate
licker. To one foot in length. Aquarium and Fiji images.
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