Scleractinia

Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc in which a mouth is fringed with tentacles. Although some species are solitary, most are colonial. The founding polyp settles and starts to secrete calcium carbonate to protect its soft body. Solitary corals can be as much as 25 cm (10 in) across but in colonial species the polyps are usually only a few millimetres in diameter. These polyps reproduce asexually by budding, but remain attached to each other, forming a multi-polyp colony of clones with a common skeleton, which may be up to several metres in diameter or height according to species.

Scleractinia

Ernst Haeckel · Public Domain · 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
Also called
stony coralPBDB
Sits inside
HexacoralliaPBDB
Diet
microcarnivore, photosymbioticPBDB
Life habit
intermediate-level epifaunal, colonial, clonalPBDB
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB
Vision
blindPBDB, for Anthozoa
Environment
marinePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 259 million years on record.

The record covers at least 259.857 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 266.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Permian — about 3 of 12000 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 0 of 12000 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 105 of 12000 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 1316 of 12000 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 415 of 12000 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 881 of 12000 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 3043 of 12000 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 1025 of 12000 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 905 of 12000 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 247 of 12000 occurrencesEocene — about 609 of 12000 occurrencesOligocene — about 517 of 12000 occurrencesMiocene — about 1256 of 12000 occurrencesPliocene — about 778 of 12000 occurrencesPleistocene — about 899 of 12000 occurrences272–263 Mya — about 1 occurrence263–254 Mya — about 2 occurrences254–245 Mya — about 2 occurrences245–236 Mya — about 166 occurrences236–227 Mya — about 305 occurrences227–218 Mya — about 167 occurrences218–209 Mya — about 214 occurrences209–200 Mya — about 640 occurrences200–191 Mya — about 127 occurrences191–181 Mya — about 178 occurrences181–172 Mya — about 61 occurrences172–163 Mya — about 761 occurrences163–154 Mya — about 1405 occurrences154–145 Mya — about 1438 occurrences145–136 Mya — about 346 occurrences136–127 Mya — about 111 occurrences127–118 Mya — about 652 occurrences118–109 Mya — about 144 occurrences109–100 Mya — about 82 occurrences100–91 Mya — about 216 occurrences91–82 Mya — about 168 occurrences82–73 Mya — about 194 occurrences73–64 Mya — about 373 occurrences64–54 Mya — about 196 occurrences54–45 Mya — about 69 occurrences45–36 Mya — about 388 occurrences36–27 Mya — about 273 occurrences27–18 Mya — about 734 occurrences18–9.1 Mya — about 713 occurrences9.1–0 Mya — about 1873 occurrences259.857 Mya129 ka272 Mya0 Mya

12,000+ occurrences of Scleractinia on record. 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

12,000 occurrences read

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. The read hit its cap, so every figure above is a floor and the shares are of the occurrences read. More on what this infers.

Found in

at least 435 formations

Seroe Domi — 12.10°N, 68.90°WKorallenoolith — 52.15°N, 9.98°EKorallenoolith — 52.25°N, 9.70°EKorallenoolith — 52.25°N, 9.50°EKorallenoolith — 52.37°N, 9.70°EKorallenoolith — 52.12°N, 10.10°EKorallenoolith — 52.21°N, 9.20°EKorallenoolith — 52.21°N, 9.13°EKorallenoolith — 52.18°N, 9.60°EKorallenoolith — 52.25°N, 9.57°EKorallenoolith — 51.97°N, 9.62°ECassian — 46.64°N, 12.20°ECassian — 46.53°N, 12.13°ECassian — 46.57°N, 11.92°ECassian — 46.54°N, 11.62°EZlambach — 47.62°N, 13.73°EZlambach — 47.50°N, 13.50°EZlambach — 47.55°N, 13.65°EZlambach — 47.57°N, 13.28°EZlambach — 47.75°N, 13.50°EStramberk Limestone — 49.58°N, 18.12°EStramberk Limestone — 49.52°N, 17.97°EStramberk Limestone — 49.52°N, 17.80°ECercado — 19.67°N, 71.40°WCercado — 19.53°N, 71.18°WTamana — 10.47°N, 61.19°WTamana — 10.39°N, 61.29°WTamana — 10.22°N, 61.37°WTamana — 10.33°N, 61.43°WTamana — 10.33°N, 62.42°WTamana — 10.42°N, 61.13°WKorycany — 50.27°N, 14.48°EKorycany — 50.02°N, 14.47°EKorycany — 50.28°N, 14.33°EKorycany — 50.20°N, 14.22°EKorycany — 49.93°N, 15.38°EKorycany — 50.02°N, 15.18°EKorycany — 50.18°N, 14.25°EKorycany — 50.63°N, 13.82°EKorycany — 50.27°N, 15.40°EKorycany — 50.05°N, 15.13°EKorycany — 49.88°N, 15.30°EKorycany — 50.20°N, 14.43°EMoneague — 18.40°N, 77.37°WMoneague — 17.95°N, 77.38°WGrodziszcze — 49.87°N, 19.77°EGrodziszcze — 49.93°N, 21.08°EGrodziszcze — 49.95°N, 19.85°EGrodziszcze — 49.93°N, 19.48°ECalcare di Zu — 46.05°N, 9.05°ECalcare di Zu — 45.78°N, 9.50°ECalcare di Zu — 45.77°N, 9.68°ECalcare di Zu — 45.98°N, 9.25°ECalcare di Zu — 45.85°N, 9.42°ECalcare di Zu — 45.85°N, 9.55°ECalcare di Zu — 45.92°N, 9.57°ECalcare di Zu — 45.87°N, 9.67°ECalcare di Zu — 45.80°N, 9.75°ECalcare di Zu — 45.72°N, 9.88°ECalcare di Zu — 45.75°N, 9.90°ECalcare di Zu — 45.67°N, 10.02°ECalcare di Zu — 45.70°N, 10.05°EEra Beds — 8.35°S, 146.28°EMassenkalk — 48.68°N, 10.22°EBaghamshah — 32.00°N, 57.00°EBaghamshah — 32.42°N, 57.00°EBaghamshah — 32.42°N, 56.83°EBaghamshah — 33.67°N, 57.00°EBaghamshah — 33.83°N, 56.50°EBaghamshah — 33.00°N, 56.50°EBaghamshah — 34.17°N, 56.67°EBaghamshah — 33.92°N, 57.33°EOolithe corallienne de Pagnoz — 47.13°N, 6.15°EGhasr Ghand — 26.50°N, 60.00°EAmaral — 38.95°N, 9.07°WAmaral — 39.02°N, 9.02°WAmaral — 39.00°N, 9.18°WCabeca — 37.15°N, 7.75°WCabeca — 37.08°N, 8.25°WCabeca — 37.12°N, 8.18°WCabeca — 37.15°N, 7.88°WCabeca — 37.13°N, 7.85°WCabeca — 37.12°N, 7.65°WWhite Limestone — 51.75°N, 1.17°WWhite Limestone — 51.70°N, 1.78°WWhite Limestone — 51.85°N, 1.27°WWhite Limestone — 51.80°N, 1.63°WWhite Limestone — 51.87°N, 1.27°WWhite Limestone — 51.85°N, 1.42°WWhite Limestone — 51.78°N, 1.48°WCulebra — 9.07°N, 79.68°WRudeis — 27.30°N, 33.58°ERudeis — 27.62°N, 33.37°ERudeis — 26.12°N, 34.18°ERudeis — 25.95°N, 34.30°ERudeis — 25.50°N, 34.65°ERudeis — 24.80°N, 35.02°ERudeis — 24.42°N, 35.20°EMoodys Branch — 32.95°N, 90.17°WMoodys Branch — 32.23°N, 92.15°WMoodys Branch — 32.01°N, 92.00°WMoodys Branch — 32.33°N, 90.15°WMoodys Branch — 31.88°N, 88.69°WMoodys Branch — 31.88°N, 88.32°WMoodys Branch — 31.77°N, 88.33°WMoodys Branch — 31.31°N, 86.48°WMoodys Branch — 31.03°N, 85.85°WMoodys Branch — 31.55°N, 87.58°WMoodys Branch — 31.14°N, 87.94°WSao Romao — 37.17°N, 7.97°WSao Romao — 37.15°N, 7.93°WAbadia — 38.93°N, 9.00°WAbadia — 38.98°N, 9.07°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Scleractinia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. The read hit its cap, so each count is a floor. 411 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 5,299 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

1,975 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 457 sites for Scleractinia, and this reads 240 of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. 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

at least 565 references

Each of the 12,000 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. That read hit its cap, so each count is a floor. 553 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 content3

Picture of Scleractinia

Credit
Ernst Haeckel
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
scleractinia indet. · MST:PALEO:MST-SP-2474

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itHexacorallia through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bourne 1900