Diploria clivosa, Growing Around a Gorgonian (Whip) Coral 1.JPG

Diploria clivosa, Growing Around a Gorgonian (Whip) Coral

Sarasota County, Florida
Plio-Pleistocene Period (5,000,000-12,000 Years Ago)
Diploria is a genus of massive reef building stony corals in the family Mussidae, commonly known as the brain corals. Three species are currently recognized, all found in the West Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Diploria clivosa, the knobby brain coral, is a colonial species of stony coral in the family Mussidae. It occurs in shallow water in the West Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. The knobby brain coral is a massive coral that either forms hemispherical domes or, particularly in areas of high wave action, forms plates and encrusts the seabed. It can grow to a diameter of about 1.3 metres (4 ft 3 in). The surface of the dome usually has a number of bulges or knobs but this species is not easy to distinguish from the symmetrical brain coral (Diploria strigosa) which tends to have a smoother outline. The surface consists of sharply delineated, convoluted ridges with valleys in between. There is no trough-like groove in the top of the ridge as is the case in the rather similar grooved brain coral (Diploria labyrinthiformis). The coral polyps are strung along the valley bottoms, each sitting in a little stony cup or corallite. The sides of these have minute walls called septa which come in four different sized cycles. They extend outside the corallites as costae that join one corallite to another but are discontinuous in this species, another distinguishing factor. The colour of the coral is usually some shade of yellowish or greenish brown and is caused by the presence of symbiotic dinoflagellates called zooxanthellae in the coral's tissues.
Gorgonians are sessile colonial cnidarians found throughout the oceans of the world, especially in the tropics and subtropics. The name "Gorgonacea" is no longer considered valid and Alcyonacea is now the accepted name for the order.[1][2] Gorgonians are also known as sea fans and sea whips and are similar to the sea pen, a soft coral. Gorgonians are closely related to coral. Individual tiny polyps form colonies that are normally erect, flattened, branching, and reminiscent of a fan. Others may be whiplike, bushy, or even encrusting.[3] A colony can be several feet high and across but only a few inches thick. They may be brightly coloured, often purple, red, or yellow.
Split taxa:
Kingdom: Animalia/Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria/Cnidaria
Class: Anthozoa/Anthozoa
Subclass: Hexacorallia/Octocorallia
Order: Scleractinia Suborder: Faviida/
Family: Mussidae Subfamily: Faviinae/
Genus: Diploria/
Species: cf clivosa/