Gray, 1831
Stylaster sp. 1 (2)
Type species: Madrepora rosea Pallas, 1766
Total number of species estimated: 75 (another 7 fossil species known).
Characteristics: Colonies usually flabellate and extremely delicate, the slender branches terminating in a characteristic zigzag (sympodial) fashion. Colonies up to 30 cm in height. Corallum variable in colour, including: orange, red, pink, purple, yellow, and white. Cyclosystems (a gastropore surrounded by 10-15 smaller slit-like dactylopores) cover all branch surfaces. Small (about 1 mm in diameter), hemispherical blisters (ampullae) often occur on branch surfaces between cyclosystems.
Ecology: Stylaster is cryptic in habitat, most common in caves and growing downward from under ledges. It is often the host for the limpet-like gastropod Pedicularia, the shell of the gastropod usually being the same colour as the stylasterid skeleton. Pedicularia are known to occur only on stylasterids. Branches of Stylaster colonies may also be crafted into porous galls that house copepods, or elongate, porous tubes that house polynoid polychaetes.
Range: Oligocene to Recent: extant species are cosmopolitan at depths of 0-2010 m. Many species are known from the Indonesian region, but most of them live in very deep water; only several occur at SCUBA depth.
Additional remarks: Because of their delicate form, the common name for many species of Stylaster is "lace coral".
Key references: Boschma, 1951, 1957; Cairns, 1983, 1991, 1992.