Brain and Merulinid Corals Codexery

Mussidae

Last updated

Mussidae are hermatypic corals that can be either solitary or colonial.[1] The skeletons of these corals are typically robust and dense, and they generally form massive structures.[1] People who maintain reef aquariums sometimes keep corals from this family.[2]

Scientific classification

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumCnidaria
  3. SubphylumAnthozoa
  4. ClassHexacorallia
  5. OrderScleractinia
  6. FamilyMussidae

Named by Ortmann, 1890

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Mussidae (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Quick Facts

Order
Scleractinia
Taxonomic revision year
2012
Vulnerability
one of the coral families most vulnerable to climate change

Facts from the source article.

Biology and range

All species contain symbiotic dinoflagellates that provide nutrients through photosynthesis.[1] The columella is trabecular, lacking discrete individual corallites due to intramural budding.[3] During daylight hours, the body cavity of certain species fills with water, and the polyps themselves are large and have a fleshy appearance.[1] Zooplankton is captured by the polyps' tentacles, which extend outward after the sun goes down.[1]

Intracalicular budding, which takes place within the polyp's oral disc, is the only type of budding observed in mussids.[4] Corallites may be found singly or in rows; if coenosteum exists, it stretches past the septal wall.[4] Despite being favored in captive settings, these corals face risks from environmental damage such as bleaching events.[2] Among coral families, Mussidae is particularly susceptible to the effects of climate change.[2]

What the specialist sources record

The World Register of Marine Species lists Mussidae as a junior subjective synonym of Faviidae, with status accepted, in order Scleractinia.[5] GBIF accepts the family Mussidae and holds 530 occurrence records for this taxon.[6] According to a 2012 revision, Atlantic species remain in Mussidae while those from the Pacific were moved to the newly created Lobophylliidae.[4] That same taxonomic revision reclassified Faviidae as a subfamily (Faviinae) within Mussidae.[4]

The WetWebMedia article mentions that although mussids are occasionally placed in reef tanks, their growth rate is very low.[7] That source also says these corals require significant spacing from other corals yet are not difficult to maintain.[7] Additionally, it characterizes them as aggressive eaters.[7]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Mussidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Ecology of the Indonesian Seas", Tuttle Publishing, 2013, p. 398–399 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Mussidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Identifying the World's Most Climate Change Vulnerable Species: A Systematic Trait-Based Assessment of all Birds, Amphibians and Corals", PLOS ONE, 2013 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Mussidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ruppert, "Invertebrate Zoology, 7th edition", Cengage Learning, 2004, p. 135 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Mussidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Taxonomic classification of the reef coral family Mussidae (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Scleractinia)", Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, p. 465–529 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. World Register of Marine Species, Mussidae (AphiaID 196103). CC BY 4.0. marinespecies.org
  6. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence index, Mussidae (taxon key 7002). CC BY 4.0 (backbone); counts are facts. gbif.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Mussidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Brain, Meat, Pineapple Corals: Family Mussidae", WetWebMedia.com (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Mussidae (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

More in Brain and Merulinid Corals

ColpophylliaDiploriaFaviaManicina areolataMussismiliaPseudodiploria clivosaPseudodiploria strigosaIsophyllia sinuosaMussa (coral)MycetophylliaScolymiaScolymia cubensis

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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