genus: Annella in taxonomy (Gaia Guide)
Animalia > Radiata > Cnidaria > Anthozoa > Anthozoa > Octocorallia > Alcyonacea > Scleraxonia > Subergorgiidae > Annella (gallery)
Annella (2)
Annella mollis
Annella reticulata


©Andy: A colony Annella sp. showing the typical morphology. Polyps are retracted

Genus Annella

©Andy: Macro photograph of a colony of Annella with polyps extended

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Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Cnidaria
Class Anthozoa
Order Alcyonacea
Family Subergorgiidae
Genus Annella
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Distinguishing features

A small genus of azooxanthellate soft corals with a two-dimensional fan-like morphology. Branchlets bifurcate, and may fuse. Polyps are monomorphic and retractile. Colonies may form fans more than two meters wide. Annella species are usually yellow to yellowish-pink. The two species on the GBR are A. mollis and A. reticulata, with the latter having smaller and more rectangular latticework in the colony morphology. Distinguish from Melithaea species by the different colour and the absence of nodes along the main branch bases.

Size

  • Size data has not been obtained.

Synonyms

Distribution and habitat preferences

Exposed sites with good current flow, such as reef fronts and passes.

Web resources

References

  • Dai, C.-F. and M.-C. Lin (1993). The effects of flow on feeding of three gorgonians from southern Taiwan, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 173: 57-69.
  • Fabricius, K. and P. Alderslade (2001). in: Soft corals and sea fans: a comprehensive guide to the tropical shallow water genera of the central-west Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville.
  • Goulet, T.L., T.C. LaJeunesse and K.E. Fabricius (2008). Symbiont specificity and bleaching susceptibility among soft corals in the 1998 Great Barrier Reef mass coral bleaching event, Marine Biology, 154: 795-804.
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