Orange cup coral
Balanophyllia elegans
- Not on exhibit
- Animal type
- Invertebrates
- Ecosystem
- Reefs & pilings
- Relatives
- Hydroids, corals, and jellyfishes; Phylum Cnidaria
- Diet
- Small animals, organic particles
- Range
- British Columbia to Baja California
- Size
- Up to 1 inch (2.5 cm)
Meet the orange cup coral
Corals in the cold waters along the coast of California don't build reefs like their tropical kin do. But this coral does make its own outer skeleton: that cuplike limestone base underneath. A cup coral larva crawls on the rocky seafloor before settling. After cementing its limestone skeleton to a rock, the coral is set for life.
Conservation
Rocky reefs are important homes for many kinds of fishes and invertebrates. "Rockhopper" trawls, equipment used in commercial fishing, can leave reefs a tumbled wasteland unable to recover for decades.
Cool facts
- Reef-building corals form huge colonies, but cup corals live solitary lives, taking refuge in their individual "cups."
Up next in reefs & pilings
Animal
Giant Pacific octopus
This octopus hatches from a rice-sized egg. On day one, its eight arms already have about 14 suckers each.
Keep exploring
Animal
Bat ray
A bat ray flaps its batlike wings to swim through the water to help it uncover prey hiding in the sand.