Aquatic Antagonists: Catalaphyllia jardinei Sting

Catalaphyllia jardinei is a blue-green soft coral whose red-violet tipped tentacles have made it a very colorful, popular animal prized by amateur aquarists. Its normal habitat is the Indo-Pacific area from Seychelles through Vanuatu and from Northern Australia to Southern Japan. It is regarded as mildly venomous. However, to our knowledge, no reports exist on its sting’s effects on man.