Dwarf cup coral
Astrangia solitaria
(Lesueur, 1817)

Description:
Colonies are composed of relatively few (usually less than 20) cylindrical corallites, budded extratentacularly from narrow, thin, stolons. A continuous coenosteum between or among the corallites is rarely present, and the stoloniferous connection is usually encrusted or abraded, resulting in the apparent or actual isolation of individual corallites. Most corallites 4 to 6 mm in diameter and 4 to 8 mm in height.
The corallites bear broad, flat, granular costae, separated from one another by thin, shallow intercostal striae. Costal granules low and rounded. Septa hexamerally arranged in four cycles, a full complement of 48 septa is rarely achieved, 36 septa being the most common number.

Color:
Corallites usually uniformly light brown or light brown in the distal half, grading to white on the lower half. Occasionally the corallites are entirely white.

Habitat:
It is commonly attached to dead coral rubble and the undersides of platy corals, down to 40 m.

Distribution:
It is one of the most common azooxanthellate corals in the western Atlantic. Occasional in Florida, Bahamas and Caribbean.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Cnidaria
Class Anthozoa
Subclass Hexacorallia
Order Scleractinia
Genus Astrangia
Species Astrangia solitaria

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Astrangia solitaria (Lesueur, 1817)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Dwarf cup coral [English]

Cairns, S.D., 2000. A Revision of the Shallow-water Azooxanthellate Scleractinia of the Western Atlantic. Studies on the natural history of the Caribbean region, LXXV, 1-231.

Humann, P., 1993. Reef Coral Identification - Florida Caribbean Bahamas, (ed. N. Deloach). New World Publications, Inc., Paramount Miller Graphics, Inc., Jacksonville, Florida.

Roos, P.J., 1971. The shallow-water stony corals of the Netherlands Antilles. Studies on the fauna of Curaçao and other Caribbean islands, 130.

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