Coe. 67 Zoanthus

            Kingdom         - Animalia

            Phylum            - Cnidaria

            Class                - Anthozoa

            Order               - Zoantharia

            Family             - Zoanthidae

            Genus              - Zoanthus

 Characters:

            A large genus (the type of the family Zoanthidae) of zoanthidean colonial polyps that are widely distributed in tropical seas, are united at their bases by stolons, resemble groups of small anemones, and have short, brightly colored tentacles. Zoanthids have several different growth forms, sometimes in the same colony. They can be solitary polyps or grow in colonies. Their colonial forms can be connected by stolons (connective tissue or runners from their polyps) or a coenenchyme. The coenenchyme is tissue that is both an anchor and sometimes a stalk for the polyps. It is comprised of a connective tissue called mesoglea, which has a lot of empty space in its tissue.

 Colour:

            Zoanthus are also the more colorful zoanthids, sometimes growing in bright colors of orange, blue, green, turquoise, red.