- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Cnidaria
- Class: Anthozoa
- Subclass: Hexacorallia
- Order: Scleractinia
- Family: Caryophylliidae
- Scientific name: Caryophyllia smithii
- Norwegian: begerkorall
Characteristics:
This is a solitary coral, even if it occasionally can be found in clusters of two, three or even four. It may reach a diameter of 25 mm. It has less than 80 tentacles, organized in three circles. Each tentacle is terminated by a distinct, white knob. The height of the cup-shaped skeleton is less than the diameter. The color is very variable, shades of white, yellow, orange, pink, red, green and brown are common.
Habitat:
It lives on rocks and other hard substrate, usually on depths from 15 to 200 meters.
Distribution:
The Devonshire cup-coral is common along the shores of Europe, the British Isles and Scandinavia. In Norway it is registered as far north as Trøndelag, Norway.