Related FAQs: Fungiids, Fungiid Corals 2,  Fungiid Identification, Fungiid Behavior, Fungiid Compatibility, Fungiid Selection, Fungiid Systems, Fungiid Feeding, Fungiid Disease, Fungiid Reproduction, Stony/True Coral, Coral System Set-Up, Coral System Lighting, Stony Coral Identification, Stony Coral Selection, Coral Placement,  Foods/Feeding/Nutrition, Disease/Health, Propagation, Growing Reef Corals,  Stony Coral Behavior, Related Articles: Large Polyp Stony Corals,  Stony or True Corals, Order Scleractinia, Dyed Corals,  /The Best Livestock For Your Reef Aquarium: Plate Corals, Family Fungiidae, Pt. 3 To: Part 1, Pt. 2

Verticals (Full/Cover Page Sizes Available)

By Bob Fenner

Genus Herpolitha Eschscholtz 1825. Irregularly elongate (X, Y, T shaped) colonies (not just individual polyps) with an raised central area and axial furrow containing many expansive mouths with mouths in or out.

Herpolitha limax  (Houtthyn 1772). Colonies become elongate with age, with rounded ends. Distinctive "bumped up" mid area. Numerous mouths inside and outside the axial furrow. Below, colonies in Fiji.

Bigger PIX: The images in this table are linked to large (desktop size) copies. Click on "framed" images to go to the larger size.

Genus Lithophyllon Rehberg 1892. Colonies flat, bearing tentacular lobes, with one to many mouths. Free-living or attached.

Lithophyllon lobata, (van der Horst 1021). Peripheral corallites are distinctive w/ their wavy exsert septae-costae. Usually just one central corallite. N. Sulawesi 2005.

Lithophyllon mokai Hoeksema 1989. Up to three inches in diameter (80 mm.), encrusting/attached. Central corallite obvious.

Genus Podabachia: Milne Edwards and Haime 1849. Leafy colonies, attached to substrate; look like encrusting bowls or at times in tiered laminar growths extending outward in plate like pieces. Undersides costate. 

Podabacia crustacea (Pallas 1776); confluent dentate (toothed) septae and costae, inclined toward edge. Laminar to bowl like, corallites exsert, facing outward toward the growing edge. Usually brownish with lighter margins. N. Sulawesi 2005.

Bigger PIX: The images in this table are linked to large (desktop size) copies. Click on "framed" images to go to the larger size.

Podabacia motuporensis Veron 1990; confluent dentate (toothed) septae and costae. Laminar to bowl like, corallites exsert, facing outward toward the growing edge. Usually brownish with lighter margins. smaller corallites than P. crustacea. Red Sea 2019. Yeah, outside the known/established geog. range.

Bigger PIX: The images in this table are linked to large (desktop size) copies. Click on "framed" images to go to the larger size.

Genus Polyphyllia Quoy & Gaimard 1833: Mobile colonies whose form is a high arch shaped like a T, Y or X elongated. Septa look like small petals on close inspection. Mouths all over upper side, axial furrow not easily detected. Septa forming petal shape.

Bigger PIX: The images in this table are linked to large (desktop size) copies. Click on "framed" images to go to the larger size.

Polyphyllia novaehiberniae (Lesson 1831). Fused septa-costae that look like oblong depressions, in rows with some running perpendicular to others. Numerous small tentacles look like hair. Colonies below in Fiji.

Polyphyllia talpina (Lamarck 1801). Tapered septa appearance. Long, numerous tentacles. Below, two aquarium specimens and one in Pulau Redang, Malaysia.

Bigger PIX: The images in this table are linked to large (desktop size) copies. Click on "framed" images to go to the larger size.

Genus Sandalolitha Quelch 1884. Large, mobile roughly circular colonies of heavy dome-shaped construction. Exsert, heavy corallites face directly outward. Dentate costae.

Sandalolitha robusta Quelch 1886. Characteristic staggered arrangement of corallites. Gilis/Lombok, Aquarium and N. Sulawesi pix.

Bigger PIX: The images in this table are linked to large (desktop size) copies. Click on "framed" images to go to the larger size.

Bibliography/Further Reading:

Coral Search

http://dpc.uba.uva.nl/cgi/t/text/get-pdf?c=ctz%3Bidno%3D8002a02 A molecularly based phylogeny reconstruction of mushroom corals (Scleractinia: Fungiidae) with taxonomic consequences and evolutionary implications for life history traits

Borneman, Eric H. 2001. Aquarium Corals; Selection, Husbandry and Natural History. Microcosm-TFH NJ, USA. 464 pp.

Fossa, Svein A. & Alf Jacob Nilsen. 1998 (1st ed.). The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium, v.2 (Cnidarians). Bergit Schmettkamp Verlag, Bornheim, Germany. 479pp.

Hoover, John. 1998. Hawai'i's Sea Creatures. A Guide to Hawai'i's Marine Invertebrates. Mutual Publishing, Honolulu HI. 366pp. 

Humann, Paul. 1993. Reef Coral Identification; Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas. New World Publications, Inc. Jacksonville, FL.  239pp.

Vargas, Tony. 1997. Feature Coral: Fungia. FAMA 10/97.

Veron, J.E.N. 1986. Corals of Australia and the Indo-Pacific. U. of HI press, Honolulu. 644 pp. 

Veron, J.E.N. 2000. Corals of the World. Australian Institute of Marine Science. Queensland, Australia. three volumes. 

To: Pt. 1, Pt. 2