[Coral-List] White Tubipora

Michel Claereboudt michelc at squ.edu.om
Sat Jan 13 00:42:26 EST 2007


While surveying coral communities in southern Oman (northern Arabian  
Sea), I found several specimen of what appears to be a white Tubipora.
The general appearance of the colony is similar to that of Tubipora  
musica with similar polyps and skeleton but :
1- the skeleton is white with no hint of the typical dark red color   
of T. musica
2- the skeleton is more fragile ( as far as I remember when  
collecting T. musica in PNG).

The polyps definitively likely zooxanthellae (brown coloration when  
preserved in alcohol).

Has anyone any info on this animal ?


Michel Claereboudt
Sultan Qaboos University
Dept. Marine Science and Fisheries
College Agricultural and Marine Sciences, Box 34
Al-Khod 123
Sultanate of Oman

Tel: (968) 2414 1249 / (968) 2414 1246
Fax: (968) 244 13418

michelc at squ.edu.om / mclaereboudt at mac.com





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