Colorful dendronephthya soft corals and various hard corals, flourishing on a pristine healthy south pacific coral reef. The soft corals are inflated in strong ocean currents, capturing passing planktonic food with their many small polyps.
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya
Location: Nigali Passage, Gau Island, Lomaiviti Archipelago, Fiji
Image ID: 31387
Coral reefscape in Fiji. Stony corals, such as the various species in this image, grow a calcium carbonate skeleton which they leave behind when they die. Over years, this deposit of calcium carbonate builds up the foundation of the coral reef. Fiji.
Location: Wakaya Island, Lomaiviti Archipelago, Fiji
Image ID: 31393
Plexauridae sea fan or gorgonian on coral reef. This gorgonian is a type of colonial alcyonacea soft coral that filters plankton from passing ocean currents.
Species: Gorgonian, Gorgonacea
Location: Gau Island, Lomaiviti Archipelago, Fiji
Image ID: 34797