Corynactis

For the actiniarian known as the strawberry anemone, see Actinia fragacea.

Corynactis is a genus of colonial anthozoans similar in appearance to sea anemones and in body format to scleractinian stony corals. These animals are cnidarians in the family Corallimorphidae. A species thought to belong to this genus feed on the crown-of-thorns seastar Acanthaster planci and may help control the crown-of-thorns population,^[1] but these are now known as Paracorynactis hoplites.

Corynactis
Corynactis australis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Cnidaria
Subphylum:	Anthozoa
Class:	Hexacorallia
Order:	Corallimorpharia
Family:	Corallimorphidae
Genus:	Corynactis Allman, 1846
Synonyms
Draytonia Duchassaing de Fombressin & Michelotti, 1864 Pseudocorynactis den Hartog, 1980 Sphincteractis Zamponi, 1976

Species

Species so far described in this genus include:^[2]

• Corynactis annulata Verrill, 1867
• Corynactis australis Haddon & Duerden, 1896
• Corynactis caboverdensis den Hartog, Ocaña & Brito, 1993
• Corynactis californica Carlgren, 1936
• Corynactis caribbeorum den Hartog, 1980
• Corynactis carnea Studer, 1879
• Corynactis chilensis Carlgren, 1941
• Corynactis delawarei Widersten, 1976
• Corynactis denhartogi Ocaña, 2003
• Corynactis denticulosa Le Sueur, 1817
• Corynactis globulifera Hemprich & Ehrenberg in Ehrenberg, 1834
• Corynactis parvula Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1860
• Corynactis sanmatiensis (Zamponi, 1976)
• Corynactis viridis Allman, 1846

Feeding

Corynactis, like other corals in the phylum Corallimorpharia, depend highly on their production of zooxanthellae and numerous animals which find themselves trapped by the oral disk as benthic invertebrates, crustaceans, worms, echinoderms and even fishes. They are very aggressive eaters, which allows for them to feed on larger particles in the water column.