Tubastraea micranthus, (Ehrenberg, 1834)
Tubastraea micranthus, commonly known as the Black sun coral, is a coral from the Tubastraea genus, which comprises the sun corals. They have a dark green color and they grow and branch out in bush/tree like colonies. The habitat of T. micranthus ranges from the Red Sea to Madagascar, and into the Pacific as far as Fiji. It has been observed in waters as shallow as 4m to a depth of 138m in the new habitat. It is notable though, that in its native habitats Tubastraea micranthus has only been found at depths up to 50 meters and any discovered at lower depths are in invasive environments. Furthermore, there have been obscure sightings of Tubastraea micranthus in Korea.
T. micranthus is an azooxanthellate coral, meaning the coral lacks zooxanthellae. T. micranthus instead gets energy from filter feeding. Additionally, T. micranthus has been observed eating larger planktonic prey, and even jellyfish, though this has not been confirmed as a regular part of its diet.
The polyps of T. micranthus expand up to 3 cm at night to capture planktonic organisms.
While the reproductive abilities of T. micranthus have not been confirmed directly, they are assumed to reproduce both sexually and asexually, because they share many traits with other Tubastraea species (specifically T. coccinea).
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