Subcategories
LPS Corals - Large Polyped Stony Corals
The LPS corals among the most beautiful corals because of their fleshy texture, colors, odd sizes & shapes, and that they move and sway in the water currents unlike the SPS corals.
SPS Corals - Small Polyped Stony Corals
The SPS corals are the primary colonizers and fundamental reef builders.
Gorgonians
The gorgonians species of the Octocorals (soft corals), having eight petaled tentacles and mostly have a tree-like shape. They have a common colonial coenenchyme (tissue that surrounds the polyps) supported on an axial skeleton. The axial skeleton is made of a proteinaceous material called gorgonin which is alot like the substance in animal horns.
Soft Corals
The key difference that makes a coral a soft coral is the number of tentacles on the polyps. All soft corals have eight tentacles per polyp. Another distinguishing characteristic of soft coral polyps is the presence of side branchlets called pinnules on each tentacle. The structures make the tentacle have a feathery look.