Home > Corals > Fire Corals & Hydrocorals

Class Hydrozoa

Family Milleporidae

Fire corals are reef-building hydroids with hard skeletons and embedded zooxanthellae.  They differ from stony corals in having a smooth surface and tiny pores with thin hairs that deliver painful stings.  Reproduction involves a free-living medusa stage.  Colonies are especially common in shallow water with good circulation.  None occur in Hawaii.

 

INDO-PACIFIC

Millepora dichotoma

 

BRANCHING FIRE CORAL

 

Millepora platyphylla

BLADE FIRE CORAL

 

WESTERN ATLANTIC

Millepora alcicornis

 

BRANCHING or CRENELLATED FIRE CORAL

 

Millepora complanata

BLADE FIRE CORAL