Galaxea

Galaxea is a genus of colonial stony corals in the family Euphylliidae. Common names include crystal, galaxy, starburst and tooth coral. They are abundant on reefs in the Indo-Pacific region and the Red Sea. They are found in water less than 20 metres (66 ft) deep and favour turbid sites. They are sometimes kept in reef aquaria.

Galaxea

Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
EuphylliidaePBDB
Diet
photosymbiotic, suspension feederPBDB, for Euphylliidae
Life habit
colonial, clonalPBDB, for Euphylliidae
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Euphylliidae
Vision
blindPBDB, for Anthozoa
Environment
marinePBDB, for Scleractinia

Time the record covers

At least 33 million years on record.

The record covers at least 33.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 211 occurrencesEocene — about 1 of 211 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 3 of 211 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 34 of 211 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 22 of 211 occurrencesPleistocene — about 132 of 211 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–19 Mya — about 3 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 4 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 4 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 4 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 8 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 13 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 19 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 143 occurrences33.9 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

211 occurrences of Galaxea on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

211 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

22 formations

Naha — 26.12°N, 127.70°ESalayar — 6.18°S, 120.43°ESalayar — 5.90°S, 120.50°ESalayar — 6.08°S, 120.48°ETokelau — 17.22°S, 178.97°WTokelau — 17.32°S, 178.99°WSobe — 26.39°N, 127.73°EYalam — 4.28°S, 151.83°EAldabra Limestone — 9.42°S, 46.45°EGhasr Ghand — 26.50°N, 60.00°ERiukiu Limestone — 24.75°N, 125.33°EEra Beds — 8.35°S, 146.28°EGashr Ghand — 26.02°N, 61.01°EDarkhunish — 26.53°N, 57.58°ENullarbor Limestone — 30.85°S, 128.08°EQom — 31.50°N, 52.73°ERyukyu Limestone — 24.50°N, 124.26°EUpper Kalibeng — 8.00°S, 114.00°ESondé — 8.00°S, 114.00°ETakigawa — 28.32°N, 129.93°EMoneague — 18.40°N, 77.37°WNias — 1.12°N, 97.62°EGelingseh — 0.87°N, 117.85°EArcadia — 27.88°N, 82.48°WTogopi — 5.25°N, 119.20°E

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The named rock units Galaxea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 152 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Galaxea and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Galaxea and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

775 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 71 sites for Galaxea, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

63 references

Each of the 211 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 51 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Galaxea

Credit
Diego Delso
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Galaxea was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itEuphylliidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Oken 1815