Mussismilia

Mussismilia is a genus of stony corals in the subfamily Faviinae of the family Mussidae. This genus is restricted to the Atlantic Ocean off the coasts of Brazil.[2]

Mussismilia
Mussismilia hispida
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Anthozoa
Order: Scleractinia
Family: Mussidae
Genus: Mussismilia
Ortmann, 1890 [1]
Species

See text

Description

Mussismilia is a colonial coral. Budding is always intracalicular, occurring inside the oral disc of the polyp, within the whorl of tentacles. The corallites are phaceloid or subplocoid, with one to three centres being linked. When coenosteum is present, there is a distinctive double wall. The columella is discontinuous. The septa are porous and have unique, multi-directional teeth formed of twisted threads. The columella is spongy, and the columellar teeth are different in size and shape from the septal teeth.[2]

Species

The World Register of Marine Species lists the following three species :[1]

  • Mussismilia braziliensis (Verrill, 1868)
  • Mussismilia harttii (Verrill, 1868)
  • Mussismilia hispida (Verrill, 1901)

References
  1. Hoeksema, Bert (2013). "Mussismilia Ortmann, 1890". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  2. Budd, Ann F.; Fukami, Hironobu; Smith, Nathan D.; Knowlton, Nancy (2012). "Taxonomic classification of the reef coral family Mussidae (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Scleractinia)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 166 (3): 465–529. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00855.x.
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