Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Likely Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Those in the Order Antipatharia, Family Antipathidae are commonly called "Black Corals" because their skeleton material is usually black or brown. They are sparsely or densely branched or bushy, with branches of varying length, arranged irregularly or with bilateral symmetry. The skeleton material does not contain calcium, but does contain an elastic horn-like substance similar to that found in gorgonia. In fact, this material is used in the jewelry trade where its fashioned into necklaces, beads, rings, etc.
Since they are not stony/reef building corals, they are included here with soft corals. Most are found attached to hard substrates in deep areas 150 to 900 feet (45 - 275 m), where their 6 non-retractable tentacled polyps are armed with stinging cells and feed on phytoplankton. Rarely ever seen in the trade and better left in the wild. Species also differ in their color, as the living tissue may be black, red, orange, brown, green, yellow, or white.
