Tubipora musica

The organ pipe coral is an alcyonarian octocoral native to the waters of the Indian Ocean and the central and western regions of the Pacific Ocean. It is the only known species of the genus Tubipora. This species is a soft coral but with a unique, hard skeleton of calcium carbonate that contains many organ pipe-like tubes. On each tube is a series of polyps which each have eight feather-like tentacles. These tentacles are usually extended during the day, but will swiftly withdraw with any sort of disturbance. The skeleton is a bright red color, but is typically obscured by numerous polyps. Because of this, living colonies are typically green, blue, or purple due to the color of the expanded polyps. Colonies are typically dome-shaped and can reach up to 3 meters (9.8 ft) across, while the individual polyps are typically less than 3 mm wide and a few mm long. They are close relatives to other soft coral and sea fans. This species is a popular aquarium coral due to its ease to maintain, as well as higher tolerance compared to most true corals. However, its popularity presents a problem: along with its potential as an aquarium coral, the species' coloration makes it a popular commodity for tourists, leading to a variety of threats to the population.

Tubipora musica

Frédéric Ducarme · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
TubiporaPBDB
Diet
microcarnivore, photosymbioticPBDB, for Alcyonacea
Life habit
intermediate-level epifaunalPBDB, for Alcyonacea
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Alcyonacea
Vision
blindPBDB, for Anthozoa

Time the record covers

At least 2.4 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Pliocene — about 3 of 8 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 5 of 8 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 8 occurrences3.7–3.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.4–3.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.1–3.0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.0–2.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.6–2.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.3–2.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.2–2.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.0–1.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.6–1.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.5–1.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.2–1.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.1–957 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences957 ka–820 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences820 ka–683 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences683 ka–547 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences547 ka–410 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences410 ka–273 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences273 ka–137 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences137 ka–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.58 Mya129 ka4.1 Mya0 Mya

8 occurrences of Tubipora musica on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

8 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

5 formations

Riukiu Limestone — 28.33°N, 130.00°ERiukiu Limestone — 24.75°N, 125.33°ERiukiu Limestone — 24.45°N, 123.00°EHateruma — 24.04°N, 123.79°EMiyako-jima — 24.80°N, 125.28°ESobe — 26.39°N, 127.73°ENaha — 26.08°N, 127.67°E

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The named rock units Tubipora musica has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tubipora musica and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Tubipora musica and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

40 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 3 sites for Tubipora musica, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

4 references

Each of the 8 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Tubipora musica

Credit
Frédéric Ducarme
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itTubipora through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758