Heliofungia actiniformis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1833)

Amjad, Farah, Ahusan, Mohamed, Amir, Hana, de Villiers, Nina M, Gress, Erika, Mah, Christopher L, Naeem, Shafiya, Rico-Seijo, Nuria, Samaai, Toufiek, Afzal, Maryiam S, Woodall, Lucy C & Stefanoudis, Paris V, 2024, An underwater imagery identification guide for shallow, mesophotic and deep-sea benthos in Maldives, Biodiversity Data Journal 12, pp. e 120128-e 120128 : e120128-

Heliofungia actiniformis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1833)

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: occurrenceID: E5D74ABD-DDE5-598F-A0B6-28C02670828A; Taxon: scientificName: Heliofungia actiniformis ; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Cnidaria; class: Anthozoa-Hexacorallia; order: Scleractinia ; family: Fungiidae ; genus: Heliofungia ; scientificNameAuthorship: (Quoy & Gaimard, 1833); Location: waterBody: Indian Ocean; country: Maldives; locality: Laamu ; minimumDepthInMeters: 30; maximumDepthInMeters: 30; locationRemarks: Nekton Maldives Mission; Identification: identifiedBy: Farah Amjad, Paris Stefanoudis, Mariyam Shidha Afzal, Hana Amir; dateIdentified: 2022, 2023; identificationRemarks: Identified only from imagery; Event: samplingProtocol: Submersible OR Remotely Operated Vehicle OR Snorkel; Record Level: basisOfRecord: Human observation

Notes

Solitary, free living corals. Juvenile colonies may remain attached to the substrate. Septa are granulate and continue to the underside of the corallum as fine ridges known as costae. Polyp is thick and fleshy and has a single mouth surrounded by thick tentacles with knobs on the end. Colony size ~ 15 cm in the longest dimension. Resembles a large anemone as it extends its tentacles during the daytime. Officially, only one species of Heliofungia has been recorded in Maldivian waters (Fig. 79 ).

Figures

Figure 79. Heliofungia actiniformis, Laamu, 30 m.