Hydroids: Hydrozoa - No Common Name (distichopora Violacea): Species Accounts

NO COMMON NAME (Distichopora violacea): SPECIES ACCOUNTS

Physical characteristics: Distichopora violacea (abbreviated as D. violacea) lives as a polyp colony that looks like coral. It is purple with white tips. There are an equal number of catching-defending polyps on both sides of a row of irregularly shaped holes on the surface of the colony.

Geographic range: D. violacea lives in the Indian and Pacific oceans and in the Red Sea. Specific distribution map not available.

Habitat: D. violacea lives in shallow seawater.

Diet: Scientists do not know what D. violacea eats.

Behavior and reproduction: Scientists do not know how D. violacea behaves or reproduces.

Distichopora violacea and people: D. violacea has no known importance to people.

Conservation status: D. violacea is not threatened or endangered. ∎

Distichopora violacea is a vivid purple, growing here under a ledge near Lizard Island, North Great Barrier Reef, Australia. (Photograph by Leslie Newman and Andrew Flowers. Reproduced by permission.)