Agariciidae
| Agariciidae | |
|---|---|
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| Pavona duerdeni | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Cnidaria |
| Class: | Anthozoa |
| Subclass: | Hexacorallia |
| Order: | Scleractinia |
| Family: |
Agariciidae Gray, 1847 |
| Genera | |
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The Agariciidae are a family of reef-building stony corals. This family includes cactus corals, elephant skin corals, plate corals, and lettuce corals. Members of the family include symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae in their tissues which help provide their energy requirements.
Members of this family are colonial, hermatypic (reef-building) corals. The corals form massive structures, often of a laminar or foliate form. The corallites are linked by the closely packed septa which have smooth or finely toothed margins and do not fuse together. The corallites do not stand out from the surface of the coral and have ill-defined walls formed by a thickening of the septa.
The World Register of Marine Species includes these genera in the family:
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