Black Coral

Antipathella subpinnata

• Group: Coral

This black coral grows as a feathery, treelike colony rooted to hard ground in deep water, usually below 185 metres on the lower slope. Despite the name the living tissue is pale and soft; the black comes from the hard skeleton underneath. It favours spots swept by current, which carries the plankton its tiny polyps catch.

Taxonomy: Animalia › Cnidaria › Hexacorallia › Antipatharia › Myriopathidae › Antipathella

Species data via the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), AphiaID 289447.