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ALEXANDRE MEINESZ

False Coral

In Dive.Explo360: Mediterranean · Northeast Atlantic · Atlantic Ocean

Beneath overhangs and on dimly lit drop-offs, False Coral catches the eye with its colourful branches. Often mistaken for a true coral, it actually houses a colony of tiny animals that continuously filter water and enrich life in coralligenous habitats.

Habitat de False Coral Habitat
Rocky habitat
Profondeur de False Coral Depth
10-50 m
Groupe biologique de False Coral Group
Bryozoan
Rôle écologique de False Coral Role
Filter feeder

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

This bryozoan forms stiff, bush-like colonies, often pink to orange in colour. Its branching appearance makes it easy to confuse with some corals. Each branch has very small openings leading to the chambers of the colonial individuals. The tips are blunt, giving the colonies their characteristic appearance as small branching clusters. A colony consists of a multitude of microscopic organisms living together in a shared calcareous structure.

WHERE DOES IT LIVE?

It occurs on rocky seabeds and coralligenous substrates, most often in shaded or dimly lit areas. It is common on walls, beneath overhangs and sometimes at the entrances to underwater cavities. It grows from a few metres deep down to deeper areas of the continental shelf.

WHAT DOES IT EAT?

It filters particles suspended in the water, mainly plankton and fine organic matter. Each individual in the colony captures its food with a ring of ciliated tentacles.

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Other species — Bryozoan

Calvet's Adeonella Neptune's Lace Ross coral

Same habitat and depth

Rocky seabed species

Same ecological role and depth

Filter-feeding species

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