Erythropodium caribaeorum

common name:encrusting soft coral

Anthozoa, Octocoralia, Alcyonacea, Anthothelidae

• irregular, tan mat <1cm thick with enlongated polyp
• tentacles appearing as long fur or hair when extended
• appears smooth and leathery when polps are retracted.

Briareum polyanthes

Anthozoa, Octcorallia, Alcyonacea, Brianreidae

• encrusting with meatball-like lobes
• polyps >1cm with long tentacles appears as dense fur or hair when extended
• purple, purplish grey or with some tan; polyps brown, greyish or greenish

Briareum asbestinum

common name: corky sea fingers

Anthozoa, Octocorallia, Alcyonacea, Briareidae

• upright, unbranched rods arising from common encrusting base.
• polyps >1cm in lenght with long tentacles, appearing as dense fur or hair when extended
• purple, purplish grat or tan; polyps brown, grayish or greenish brown
• apertures may be surrounded by darker purple

Carijoa riisei

common name: snowflake coral

Anthozoa, Octocorallia, Alyconacea, Clavularidae

• Dense bushy clusters of tangles flexible hollow stalks and branches with prominent polyps at the tip
• white to pale pink
• native to Western Atlantic and found in Hawaii where forms dense monspecific carpets

Gorgonia ventalina

common name: common sea fan

Anthozoa, Octocarallia, Alcyonacea, Gorgoniidae

• grows perpendicular to current anf fans out to maximize surface area for feeding
• multidirectional flow may generate smaller accessory fans at right angles to main fan
• preyed upon by several gastropods

Antillogorgia acerosa

common name: common sea plume

Anthozoa, Octocorallia, Alcyonacea, Gorgoniidae

• Finely snadpapery to touch
• tallest octocoral in western tropical Altantic ~2m tall
• pinnules (side branches) flimsy, very flexible

Antillogorgia americana

common name: Slimy sea plume

Anthoza, Octocorallia, Alcyonacea, Gorgoniidae

• Plumose, pinnate 1.5m tall
• side branches long flexible, regularly-spaced flat or triangular in cross section
• produces copious amounts of slimy mucus

Pterogorgia anceps

common names: angular sea whip, purple sea blade

Anthozoa, Octocorallia, Alcyonacea, Gorgoniidae

• Large, bushy often highly branches usually 60cm tall 
• branches flat with 3-4 flaps or flangesmaking Y or X cross sections polyps emerge from common groove along branch edges 
• found on back reefs often arising from buried hard substrates

Subphylum Anthozoa

Class: Octocorallia

Order: Alcyonacea (soft corals)

Gorgonians (horny corals) have a woody protein axis surrounded by tissuewith many small calcarous scierites. polyp cups imbedded in this tissue ehich appear as small holes. Purples woody looking.

Eunicea flexuosa

common name: bent sea rod

Anthozoa, Octocorallia, Alcyonacea, Plexauridae

• very common
• colony form: bushy, candelabrum, somethimes dense stands of short branches
• terminal branches often short with some thickness form base to tip
• beige to ochre; sometimes purple or blue

Plexaurella species

common name: Octocorallia, Alcyonacea, Plexauridae

• Octocorals with oval or distinctly slit-shaped, smooth 
• moundlike apertures
• branches usually dichotomous firm and stiff
• light brown, beige, grey or putty

Sunphylum Anthozoa

Class: Hexacorallia

Order: Antipatharia (black coral)

black coral colonies include whip-like, bushy, fanlike branches or fernlike forms. All branches composed of dense, woodlike protein.

Subphylum Anthozoa

Class: Hexacorallia

Order: Scleratinia

Montastraea cavernosa

common name: giant star coral

• larger polyps
• common in broward reefs
• more tolerant of high turbidity conditions

Subphylum Anthozoa

Class: Hexacorallia

Order: Scleratinia

Acropora cervicornis

common name: staghorn coral

• typicla of more sheltered reef habitats than elkhorn coral
• form large even vast meafows
• mostly via asexual vegetative reproduction

Subphylum Anthozoa

Class: Hexacorallia

order: Scleractinia

Acropra palmata

common name: elkhorn coral

• large branching colonies
• grow at high energy reef crest
• one of the most inmport reef builders in tropical western Atlantic.

Favia fragum

common name: golfball coral

Anthozoa, Hexacorallia, Scleractinia

• small<5m 
• almost spgerical encrusting colonies
• polyps usually round and single
• usually pale yellow to brown
• on reefs, shallow hard substrate and seagrass

Subphylum Anthozoa

Class: Hexacorallia

Order: Scleractinia

Manicina areolata

common name: rose coral

• small, elliptical colonies with continuous central valley and several side valleys.
• begins life attached to small coral or shell fragments
• common on shallow turle grass beds

Meandrina meandrites

common names: maze coral, butterprint brain coral

• Hemispheric brain coral 1m across
• septa large, smooth, thick and evem
• ribbon like or composed of enlongated sheets
• color usually cream, with some green and brown tints
• tentacles may extend during the day

Porites astreoides

common name: mustard hill coral

Anothozoa, Hexacorallia, Scleractinia

• small massive lumps with lumpy surface
• corallites ~1.5 mm across
• color usually yellow, green, grey or light brown in shallow water
• common on shallow reefs

Eusmilla fastigiata

common name: smooth flower coral

Anothozoa, Hexacorallia, Scleractinia

• more or less hemispherical clusters of separated tubular braches
• no living tissue
• primary septa are large and widely space
• color cream with pink or green tints
• tentacles translucent, extended at night

Tubastrea cocinea

common name: orange cup coral

Anthozoa, Hexacorallia, Scleractinia

• Small clusters of relatively poor calcified corallites
• azooaxnthellate
• commonly found on wrecks
• asexual and can form runners
• polyps bright orange in life
• extended at night

Ctenocella barbadensis

common name: red sea whip

Anthozoa, Octocorallia, Alcyonacea, Elliselldae

• unbranched whiplike ~8mm
• calices upturned rounded scale like
• orange to red
• deep reefs

Subphylum Medusozoa

Class: Scyphozoa

Order: Cubozoa

Carybdea sp.

Common name: Sea wasp, box jelly

• powerful swimming medusa with tall bell rectangule
• appears in surface waters over reef drop offs 

Pelagia noctiluca

common name: mauve stinger

• Hemispheric bell 5-6 cm across
• covered with wart like clusters of namotocysts
• 8 oral arms and tentacles
• pink, purple, or bluish
• bioluminescent

Subphylum Medusozoa

Class: Scyphozoa

Order: Semaeostomae

Aurelia aurite

common name: Moon jelly

• marge dish shaped medusa common along the east U.S. coast in summer and fall

Subphylum Medusozoa

Class: Scyphozoa

Order: Coranatae

Linuche unguiculate

common name: thimble jelly

• small medusae
• swarms during the summer
• owe their brown color to zooxanthellae

Subphylum Medusozoa

Class: Scyphozoa

Order: Coronatae

Periphylla periphylla

common name: Deep sea medusa

• bathypelagic medusa with dark coloration typical of many deep pelagic
• equatorial groovw and deep scalloped dell margin

Subphylum Medusozoa

Class: Hydrozoa

Order: Athecata

Millapora alcicornis

common name: Branching fire coral

• wide range of shallow habitats- reefs, hard bootoms and seagrass beds
• encrusts on dead gorgonian axes
• hydrozoans that deposit CaCo3 skeletons are refferd as hydrocorals

Subphylum Medusozoa

Class: Hydrozoa

Order: Siphonophorae

Physalia physalis

common name: portuguese man-o-war

• flosting pelagic integrated colony of modified polyps and medusoids.
• sexual
• colonies sail to port and other to starboard

Subphylum Medusozoa

Class: Scyphozoa

Order: Rhizostmae

Cassiopeia xamachana

common name: Upsidedown jelly

• found on botton of quiet conals abd seagrass beds
• lie upside down to expose zooxanthellae in its oral arms to sunlight

Dendrogyra cylindrus

Anthozoa, Hexacorallia, Scleractinia

Common name: pillar coral

• groups of tall columns 2m tall
• are meandroid with small coralllites
• colonies appear furry
• polyps with long rentacles extended during the day
• rare

Lophelia pertusa

common name: deep sea reef coral

• major archtect of deep sea reefs
• occurs from about 50m deep in northern latitudes
• over 2000 m deep in tropical

Scolymia cubensis

Anthozoa, Hexacorrallia. Scleractinia

common name: mushroom coral

• Large solitary disk like corallites
• septa long sharp toothlike spines
• color ranges from bright green red to dull grey

Ircinia campana
Common name: vase sponge

Dictyoceratida, Iriniidae

• usually funnel shapped
• 60sm tall and 40 cm across
• oscules line the inner surface
• on shallow refs and hard bottoms iften seagrass