List of marine aquarium invertebrate species

This is a list of various species of marine invertebrates, animals without a backbone, that are commonly found in aquariums kept by hobby aquarists. Some species are intentionally collected for their desirable aesthetic characteristics. Others are kept to serve a functional role such as consuming algae in the aquarium. Some species are present only incidentally or are pest species.

Common name(s)	Taxonomy	Reef safe	Care Level	Description	Max size
Christmas tree worm^[1]	Spirobranchus giganteus	Yes	Expert	Found living anchored in live coral colonies in nature. Each worm has two crowns, which come in a variety of different colors, and are spiraled in the shape of a Christmas tree.	5 cm (2.0 in)
Cluster duster^[1]	Bispira brunnea	Yes	Moderate	This species grows in groups of up to 100 individual tube worms, living together in a single clump. The clusters of tubes adhere to a rocky substrate at a central point.^[2]	2.5 cm (1.0 in)
Feather duster worm, Fan worm^[1]	Sabellastarte sp.	Yes	Easy to Moderate	A sedentary (but it can scoot around), tube dwelling worm with a fan-shaped crown (radiole) that projects from the end of the tube. This can be white, tan, orange, sometimes with striping. They build their tubes out of sand, mud, and bits of shell.	20 cm (7.9 in)

Common name	Image	Taxonomy	Reef safe	Care Level	Description	Max size
Atlantic horseshoe crab		Limulus polyphemus	Yes, with caution	Easy	A bottom dwelling animal that is actually not a true crab. Found burrowing in mud or sand flats in the wild, they need a deep sand bed in their aquarium.	60 cm (23.6 in)
Sea spider^[3]		Pycnogonids	No	Moderate	Not collected for the aquarium trade, but occasionally seen on live rock and corals as a hitchhiker. They can be pests in a reef tank, preying on soft coral, sponges and anemones.	0.2–50 cm (0.1–19.7 in)

Common name	Taxonomy	Reef safe	Care Level	Notes
Anemone crab	Neopetrolisthes maculatus	Yes	Easy	It lives in anemones. Also a filter feeder
Arrow crab	Stenorhynchus seticornis	with caution
Hermit crabs	Paguroidea sp.	Will eat snails	Easy
Emerald crab	Mithraculus sculptus	With caution?	Easy	May eat fish
Pom-pom crab	Lybia tessellata	With caution?	Easy?
Sally lightfoot crab	Percnon gibbesi	With caution?	Easy?
Spider decorator crab	Camposcia retusa	With caution?	Easy?	Will get some polyps to use for cover.
Spiny lobster	Panulirus versicolor
Brine shrimp	Artemia salina	Yes	Easy	Kept not as livestock, but rather to feed inverts and fish.
Sexy shrimp	Thor amboinensis	Yes	Easy
Snapping shrimp	Alpheidae sp.	With caution?		Will make loud snapping sounds.
Peacock mantis shrimp	Odontodactylus scyllarus	with caution	Easy	Will eat shelled things and possibly fish. Some people say they will redecorate their tank including moving corals but people have successfully kept them in reef tanks. Not a true shrimp but a stomatapod with the smashing raptorial appendage
Coral banded shrimp	Stenopus hispidus	Yes	Easy	Will eat small fish, in the wild they set up cleaning stations
Camel shrimp	Rhynchocinetes durbanensis	Yes	Easy?	Will nip on soft corals.
Harlequin shrimp	Hymenocera sp.	Will eat starfish	Moderate?	Will only eat starfish.
Peppermint shrimp	Lysmata wurdemanni complex	Yes	Easy	Some people think they eat corals, but they only eat dying coral (although this gives the appearance of eating healthy corals)
Skunk cleaner shrimp	Lysmata amboinensis	Yes	Easy	Will clean dead tissue and remove parasites from fish.

Common name(s)	Taxonomy	Temperament	Care Level	Description	Max size
Jewel anemone	Corynactis viridis			small polyps with all colours	1 cm
Knobbly mushroom coral, Florida false coral^[4]	Ricordea florida			a knobbly coral with vibrant colours	7 cm
Knobbly mushroom coral, Yuma mushroom coral^[4]	Ricordea yuma	Semi-aggressive	Moderate		1 meter
Mushroom coral, Mushroom anemone, Disk anemone^[4]	Discosoma sp.	Semi-aggressive	Easy		50 cm
Strawberry anemone	Corynactis californica			small red polyps with pink tentacles	2.5 cm

Common name	Image	Taxonomy	Temperament	Care Level	Description	Max size
Lace coral^[5]		Distichopora sp.
Fire coral^[5]		Millepora sp.

List of marine aquarium invertebrate species

Annelids

Arthropods

Cheliceratas

Crustaceans

Corals

Corallimorphs

Hydrocorals

Large-polyp stony

Small-polyp stony

Soft corals

Zoanthids

Echinoderms

Sea cucumbers

Starfish

Crinoids

Urchins

Jellyfish

Mollusks

Bivalves

Gastropods

Cephalopods

Sea anemones

Sponges

Tunicates

See also

References

Wikiwand - on

Common name(s)	Taxonomy	Temperament	Care Level
Black sun coral^[6]	Tubastraea micrantha		Expert
Bubble coral	Plerogyra sinuosa	Aggressive	Easy
Candy cane coral	Caulastrea furcata	Peaceful	Easy
Elegance coral^[7]	Catalaphyllia jardinei	Aggressive	Moderate
Flowerpot coral	Goniopora sp.	Aggressive	Difficult
Frogspawn coral^[8]	Euphyllia divisa	Aggressive	Moderate
Hammer coral, Anchor coral^[8]	Euphyllia ancora	Aggressive
Lobed brain coral	Lobophyllia hemprichii	Semi-Aggressive
Open brain coral	Trachyphyllia geoffroyi	Semi-aggressive
Pineapple brain coral, Moon coral	Favia sp.	Aggressive
Sun coral, Orange cup coral^[9]	Tubastraea sp., often Tubastrea aurea	Peaceful	Expert
Torch coral	Euphyllia glabrescens	Aggressive
Whisker coral, Duncan coral^[10]	Duncanopsammia axifuga	Peaceful	Easy

Common name	Taxonomy	Temperament	Care level	Description
Pink bird's nest coral^[11]	Seriatopora hystrix
Cauliflower coral	Pocillopora sp., usually Pocillopora damicornis
Dimpled encrusting Montipora	Montipora verrucosa
Finger coral^[12]	Montipora digitata and Montipora samarensis
Millepora coral, "Milli" coral	Acropora millepora	Peaceful	Moderate	A popular and readily available species that comes in many color forms. It should not be confused with fire corals of the genus Millepora.
Plating montipora	Montipora capricornis	Peaceful	Moderate
Staghorn coral^[13]	Acropora cervicornis	Peaceful	Difficult	A very rare species, it is generally not available to the average hobby aquarist due to its critically endangered status. They would likely make good aquarium specimens, but can only be obtained with a special license.

Common name(s)	Taxonomy	Temperament	Care Level	Description
Cabbage leather coral	Sinularia brassica and Sinularia dura	Semi-aggressive	Easy
Clove polyps, Daisy polyps^[14]	Clavularia sp	Peaceful	Easy
Devil's hand leather coral	Lobophytum sp.	Peaceful to Semi-aggressive	Easy
Finger leather coral	Sinularia sp.	Semi-aggressive	Easy
Jasmine polyps, Daisy polyps	Knopia	Peaceful	Easy
Pulse coral, Pulsing Xenia	Xenia sp.	Peaceful	Easy	An easy to care for coral known for its prolific asexual reproduction and polyps that actively move their tentacles in a pulsing motion.
Red chili coral	Nephthyigorgia	Peaceful	Expert
Spaghetti leather coral	Sinularia flexibilis	Semi-aggressive	Easy
Star polyps^[14]	Clavularia viridis, Pachiclavularia viridis, or Briareum violaceum (taxonomy uncertain)	Peaceful	Easy

Common name(s)	Taxonomy	Temperament	Care Level	Description
Stick polyps, Tree polyps	Acrozoanthus
Button polyps, Zoanthids, "Zoas"	Zoanthus	Semi-aggressive	Easy	Common, but pretty, coral that is a mainstay of the reef hobby. Their diversity of color is almost infinite, ranging from pale to full-on rainbow.
Button polyps, Palythoa, "Palys"	Palythoa	Semi-aggressive	Easy	Palythoa are nearly as ubiquitous as Zoanthus in the reef hobby. Their colors are usually more muted, but still attractive.
Button polyps, Protopalythoa	Protopalythoa	Semi-aggressive	Easy	Similar to Palythoa, these may actually be in the same genus due to taxonomic uncertainty.