Dendronephthya

*Dendronephthya*
Taxonomical systematics
	Genus	Dendronephthya Kükenthal, 1905
	Common names	Carnation Corals,
	Family	Nephtheidae Gray, 1862
	Order	Alcyonacea
	Subclass	Octocorallia
	Class	Anthozoa
	Phylum	Cnidaria

Local ecology
	Distribution	Oceania, Tropical Western Pacific Ocean, Great Barrier Reef, Tropical Eastern Indian Ocean, Northern and Western Indian Ocean.
	Habitat	Usually below 20m in fast unidirectional currents; rare in wave exposed areas; can also be found in muddy estuaries and deep oceanic waters; if found in shallows that are well lit they are usually restricted to wave-protected habitats exposed to high current (Fabricius and Alderslade, 2001).

Biological characteristics
	Description	Colonies are highly branched or bushy; end branches and polyp bunches generally arranged in one of three growth forms:
		Divaricate: polyps in small insignificant bundles on slender ramifications with sparse, arborescent branching ;
		Glomerate: polyp bundles in large, distinctly rounded bunches and branches are close and short;
		Umbellate: polyp bundles arranged closely at the same level at the end of fine branches forming numerous umbrella-like crowns (Fabricius and Alderslade, 2001).
		Polyps are monomorphic and not retractile; tentacles are short and stout in disc-shaped arrangements when fully expanded (Fabricius and Alderslade, 2001).
		Predominately bright colours: red, orange, purple, yellow, pink or white; colouration due to the colours of the sclerites; sclerites in upper branches usually brighter than those on the stalk and lower branches (Fabricius and Alderslade, 2001).
		Azoothanthellate
	Associated organisms	Coral crabs of the genus Porcellanella (Fosså and Nilsen, 1998).
		Predatory snails (Borneman, 2001)
	Similar genera	Umbellulifera; Stereonephthya
	Wild foods	Predominately (phyto)plankton brought to the polyps on strong currents (Borneman, 2001).
Captive care
	Lighting	No specific lighting requirements. Should be protected from strong light and in particular UV radiation.
	Water flow	Very stong (> 5 cm/s), unidirectional (Borneman, 2001).
	Feeding	Must be fed nearly constantly on plankton, primarily phytoplankton (Borneman, 2001)

Reproduction
	Sexual reproduction mode	Broadcast spawners (Borneman, 2001)
	Sexes	Separate sexes per colony (Borneman, 2001)
	Asexual methods	"Polyp bail-out" (Fabricius and Alderslade, 2001)
		Longitudinal fission (Borneman, 2001)

References
	Borneman E.H. 2001. Aquarium Corals: Selection, Husbandry, and Natural History. Microcosm Ltd, Charlotte, VT. 464pp.
	Fabricius K. and Alderslade P. 2001. Soft Corals and Sea Fans: A comprehensive guide to the tropical shallow-water genera of the Central-West Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. AIMS, Townsville, Australia. 264pp.
	Fosså S.A. and Nilsen A.J. 1998. The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium, Volume 2. Birgit Schmettkamp Verlag, Bornheim, Germany. 479pp.

Further reading
	Dahan M. and Benayahu Y. 1997. Clonal propagation by the azooxanthellate octocoral Dendronephthya hemprichi.. Coral Reefs 16:5-12.
	Dahan M. and Benayahu Y. 1997. Reproduction of Dendronephthya hemprichi (Cnidaria: Octocorallia): year round spawning in an azooxanthellate soft coral.. Mar. Biol. 129:573-579.
	Fabricius K.E., Benayahu Y. and Genin A. 1995. Herbivory in asymbiotic soft corals.. Science 268:90-92.
	Sorokin Y.I. 1991. Biomass, metabolic rates and feeding of some common zoantharians and octocorals.. Aust. J. Mar. Freshwater Res. 42:729-741.