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orange cup coral

Balanophyllia elegans

Classification

Orange cup coral (Tubastraea coccinea) is a species of large-polyp stony corals. This non-reef building coral extends translucent tentacles at night. Tubastraea coccinea is heterotrophic and does not contain zooxanthellae in its tissues as many tropical corals do, allowing it to grow in complete darkness as long as it can capture enough food.

Distribution

(c) Cricket Raspet, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Cricket Raspet · CC-BY
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Countries in the Picchu catalog
United States of America · 553Canada · 328