Amplexidiscus fenestrafer (Giant cup mushroom coral)
The visible part of its body forms a flexible disc with cone-shaped tentacles.
Coloration is light beige to brown.
Has not yet been assessed for the IUCN Red List.
Amplexidiscus fenestrafer is often forming small colony in 5–25 metres depth on the top reef in tropical waters Indo-West Pacific area.
This species reproduce in 4 different ways: asexual budding, laceration, division/fission and sexual reproduction.
Budding is where individuals are formed from particles divided off from the pedal disc. Similar to budding, laceration happens when they move slowly over the surface and leave behind small pieces that will eventually form into mushrooms. Division or fission is where an individual divides down the center and forms two animals.
Sexual reproduction is where eggs and sperm are released into the water column. They unite and form free-swimming larvae which are initially plankonic, and them settle and adhere to the substrate.
Its diameter can reach 40 cm.
Zooxanthellae and numerous animals which find themselves trapped by the oral disk as benthic invertebrates, crustaceans, worms, echinoderms and even fishes. When the prey is trapped and that the anemone is starting its digestion the lobbed edges are raised towards the center of the disk and form as a ball.
