Order

Common name: Soft corals

Scientific name: Alcyonacea

Alcyonacea, commonly known as soft corals, encompasses a diverse group of octocorallian cnidarians that are important components of reef ecosystems. Unlike their hard coral relatives, they lack a rigid calcium carbonate skeleton, instead possessing a flexible structure often reinforced by small skeletal elements called sclerites. This order includes popular aquarium species like leather corals, sea fans, and gorgonians, which are appreciated for their varied forms and colors. They typically require moderate lighting and water flow, and many harbor symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae, which can provide them with nutrients through photosynthesis.

  1. A closeup picture of the soft coral dead man's fingers or Alcyonium digitatum. Picture from the Weather Islands, Skagerrak Sea, western Sweden
    Common name: dead man's fingers
    Scientific name: Alcyonium digitatum
  2. Coral reef South Pacific
    Common name: Red sea fingers
    Scientific name: Alcyonium glomeratum
  3. Dead Man's Fingers
    Common name: Dead Man's Fingers
    Scientific name: Alcyonium palmatum
  4. Waving Hand Coral (Anthelia) colony in the Red Sea
    Common name: Waving Hand Coral
    Scientific name: Anthelia glauca
  5. Common name: slimy sea plume
    Scientific name: Antillogorgia americana
  6. Colonial soft coral bipinnate sea plume or forked sea feather (Antillogorgia bipinnata) undersea, Caribbean Sea, Cuba, Playa Cueva de los peces
    Common name: forked sea feather
    Scientific name: Antillogorgia bipinnata
  7. Common name: Sea Plume
    Scientific name: Antillogorgia elisabethae
  8. Common name: corky sea fingers
    Scientific name: Briareum asbestinum
  9. Tree soft Coral (Capnella Imbricata) in the filipino sea 7.2.2015
    Common name: Kenya Tree Coral
    Scientific name: Capnella imbricata
  10. Common name: Colt Coral
    Scientific name: Cladiella australis
  11. Stony coral rasp coral, or cauliflower coral, knob-horned coral (Pocillopora verrucosa) undersea, Red Sea, Egypt, Sharm El Sheikh, Nabq Bay
    Common name: Cauliflower Coral
    Scientific name: Cladiella pauciflora
  12. Giant clam, Tridacna gigas, surrounded by soft corals, Clavularia viridis, Raja Ampat Indonesia.
    Common name: Green Star Polyps
    Scientific name: Clavularia viridis
  13. feather star and coral reef
    Common name: Feather Star Coral
    Scientific name: Coelogorgia palmosa
  14. Carnation Coral (Dendronephthya klunzingeri)
    Common name: Carnation Coral
    Scientific name: Dendronephthya klunzingeri
  15. Carnation Tree Coral (Dendronephthya sp.)
    Common name: Carnation Coral
    Scientific name: Dendronephthya rubeola
  16. Common name: Jeweled Coral
    Scientific name: Dichotella gemmacea
  17. Underwater, Lembeh Strait,Indonesia
    Common name: colorful sea rod
    Scientific name: Diodogorgia nodulifera
  18. Parete ricoperta da gorgonie rosse, Paramuricea clavata, in primo piano una spugna gialla incrostante
    Common name: Encrusting Gorgonian
    Scientific name: Erythropodium carybaeorum
  19. Coral reef gorgonian
    Common name: Bent Sea Rod
    Scientific name: Eunicea flexuosa
  20. Gorgonia flabellum,Venus fan
    Common name: venus sea fan
    Scientific name: Gorgonia flabellum
  21. Wide-Mesh Sea Fan (Gorgonia mariae) near Anilao, Batangas, Philippines.  Underwater photography and marine life.
    Common name: Purple Sea Rod
    Scientific name: Gorgonia mariae
  22. The purple sea fan attached to a rock or coral reef.
    Common name: purple sea fan
    Scientific name: Gorgonia ventalina
  23. Common name: Hicksonella Coral
    Scientific name: Hicksonella princeps
  24.  Colorful portait of ornate ghost pipefish - Solenostomus paradoxus
    Common name: Branching Pipe Coral
    Scientific name: Isis hippuris
  25. Sea whip corals and Sea rod corals (Mergui archipelago, Myanmar)
    Common name: Delicate Sea Whip
    Scientific name: Junceella fragilis
  26. Common name: carmine sea spray
    Scientific name: Leptogorgia miniata
  27. Devil's hand coral and toadstool leather coral reef inside a saltwater aquarium
    Common name: Devil's Hand Leather Coral
    Scientific name: Lobophytum crassum
  28. Close-up of Red Melithaea sea fan gorgonian coral
    Common name: Red Sea Fan
    Scientific name: Melithaea splendens
  29. California golden gorgonian polyps, Muricea californica, Anacapa Island, Channel Islands National Park, California, USA
    Common name: California Sea Fan
    Scientific name: Muricea californica
  30. Common name: Violet Sea Rod
    Scientific name: Muricea fruticosa
  31. Common name: delicate spiny sea rod
    Scientific name: Muricea laxa
  32. Sea fans, and Painted spiny lobsters under the rock
    Common name: spiny sea fan
    Scientific name: Muricea muricata
  33. Muricella Sea Fan (Muricella plectana)
    Common name: Muricella Sea Fan
    Scientific name: Muricella plectana
  34. Pink Brush Gorgonian (Muriceopsis flavida)
    Common name: bottle-brush coral
    Scientific name: Muriceopsis flavida
  35. Common name: Pink sea fingers
    Scientific name: Parerythropodium hibernicum
  36. Gorgonian-type octocoral Slit-pore sea rod or double-forked plexaurella (Plexaurella dichotoma) undersea, Caribbean Sea, Cuba, Playa Cueva de los peces
    Common name: double-forked plexaurella
    Scientific name: Plexaurella dichotoma
  37. Angular Sea Whip (Pterogorgia anceps), Rosario Islands National Natural Park
    Common name: Angular Sea Whip
    Scientific name: Pterogorgia anceps
  38. Yellow colorful sea whip soft coral (Leptogorgia virgulata) in the Atlantic Ocean surf, washing up on a South Carolina beach
    Common name: yellow sea whip
    Scientific name: Pterogorgia citrina
  39. Common name: Yellow Fungus
    Scientific name: Rhytisma fulvum
  40. Colorful Sarcophyton soft coral - Sarcophyton ehrenbergi
    Common name: Toadstool Leather Coral
    Scientific name: Sarcophyton ehrenbergi
  41. Common name: Yellow Leather Coral
    Scientific name: Sarcophyton elegans
  42. Toadstool mushroom leather coral
    Common name: Leather coral
    Scientific name: Sarcophyton glaucum
  43. Giant Cup Mushroom or True Elephant Ear Mushroom (Amplexidiscus fenestrafer) a soft coral
    Common name: Elephant Ear Coral
    Scientific name: Sarcophyton latum
  44. Green Mushroom Leather Coral
(Sarcophyton sp.)
    Common name: Leather Coral
    Scientific name: Sarcophyton tenuispiculatum
  45. Sea squirts, tunicates, or ascidians living on the reef
    Common name: Mushroom leather coral
    Scientific name: Sarcophyton trocheliophorum
  46. black fish caught by the Thin Finger Leather Coral design for Catch with one's hands concept  close-up
    Common name: Finger Leather Coral
    Scientific name: Sinularia asterolobata
  47. Sinularia brassica, Cabbage Leather, Flower Leather
    Common name: Cabbage Leather Coral
    Scientific name: Sinularia brassica
  48. Reef scenic with soft coral, Sinularia flexibilis, Raja Ampat Indonesia.
    Common name: Spaghetti Finger Leather Coral
    Scientific name: Sinularia flexibilis
  49. Green Mushroom Leather Coral
(Sarcophyton sp.)
    Common name: Leather Coral
    Scientific name: Sinularia notanda
  50. Sinularia brassica, Cabbage Leather, Flower Leather
    Common name: Finger Leather Coral
    Scientific name: Sinularia polydactyla
  51. Common name: Yellow Tree Coral
    Scientific name: Studeriotes longiramosa
  52. Swiftia exserta
    Common name: red polyp octocoral
    Scientific name: Swiftia exserta
  53. Common name: Waving Hand Coral
    Scientific name: Thesea nutans
  54. Organ pipe coral - (Tubipora musica)
    Common name: Organ pipe coral
    Scientific name: Tubipora musica
  55. Pulsing Xenia (Xenia elongata) growing on rock
    Common name: Pulsing Xenia
    Scientific name: Xenia elongata
  56. Broccoli coral (Litophyton arboreum) and White pulse coral or pulse coral (Xenia umbellata) undersea, Red Sea, Egypt, Sharm El Sheikh, Nabq Bay
    Common name: Pulsing Xenia
    Scientific name: Xenia umbellata