Melithaeidae [SEP] parent taxon
Melithaeidae
Melithaeidae is a family of corals in the suborder Scleraxonia. Members of the family are commonly known as sea fans and are found on reefs in the tropical regions of the Indo-Pacific.
Description.
Members of the family Melithaeidae are arborescent colonial corals forming fans, bushes or trees. The axis or main skeletal "trunk" is jointed, there being nodes, flexible horny joints, separated by internodes composed of hard, calcareous material. The branches divide dichotomously at the nodes and these are often swollen.
length. It is a slender pale-bodied aeolid with long paired pinkish cerata. The cerata have a bluish-white stripe running down their length, as does the body. The rhinophores are smooth. This species contains no zooxanthellae.
Ecology.
"Phyllodesmium horridum" feeds on sea fans (gorgonians) of the genus "Melitodes" (family Melithaeidae). It has also been reported to feed on gorgonians of the genus, "Acabaria" (also family Melithaeidae). The egg ribbon is a gelatinous mass