Desmophyllum cristagalli Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848

Species details

Species distribution

A deep water coral found below 200m. It attaches to hard substrates, often other corals and occurs worldwide, a rarity amongst stony corals.

Desmophyllum dianthus is a suspension feeder. Stony corals, particularly in the tropics, often have symbiotic algae living within their tissue whose by-products greatly supplement the corals food supply, but Desmophyllum dianthus lives too deep for these algae to grow, as they require light.