Sarcophyton ehrenbergi and Sarcophyton trocheliophorum
Sarcophyton ehrenbergi and Sarcophyton trocheliophorum, Marenzeller 1886 are a octocorals of the Alcyoniidae family, commonly referred to as Leather Soft Mushroom, Slimy Leather Coral, Fleshy soft coral. A colony of leathery coral is stiff, hard and inflexible. It is composed of tiny polyps projecting from a shared leathery tissue. Members of the family may have two kinds of polyps; the autozooids have long trunks and eight tiny branched tentacles and project from the shared leathery tissue while the siphonozooids remain below the surface and pump water for the colony. They appear as tiny hollows or mounds among the taller autozooids. Different genera have different proportions of these two kinds of polyps. The autozooids only emerge when the colony is fully submerged. They are soft corals that develop their structure on a robust peduncle without polyps which can reach considerable dimensions; well exceeding one meter in diameter. Polyps develop only in the upper part of the mantle.
Being particularly competitive species, they produce sarcophytotoxin capable of inhibiting the growth of madrepores in the surrounding area. The coloration of these soft corals varies based on the biological and biodynamic conditions of the marine environment in which they are found. Very abundant in tropical seas, these magnificent animals with a fleshy structure supported by some limestone spicules, present themselves to our eyes with the most varied shapes and colors. Coral forms branched limestone colonies, anchored to the rocks, forming large clusters that can form islands, atolls and coral reefs or reefs. Like all octocorals, polyps are equipped with eight tentacles, they feed on plankton transported by the current, but they differ from other members of the phylum in the retractility of the tentacles within the fleshy mass that constitutes the structure of the colony.
The most photographed species are the Dendronephtya and the Scleronephtya. Their structure is arboreal and they have a translucent body that allows you to see the calcareous spicules inside. Other species very present in the Maldives are the Litophytum arboreum, similar to the previous species except for the fact that the body is not translucent, and the Sarcophyton which is instead similar to a sponge and grey-green in colour. Difficulty in the aquarium: There are no reports available yet that this animal has already been kept in captivity successfully. A aquarium size of at least 450 Liter is recommended.
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