Caryophyllia Lamarck, 1816

Diagnosis.

Corallum solitary, attached or free: if attached, corallum cylindrical, trochoid, or ceratoid; if free, corallum usually cornute. Calice circular, elliptical, or compressed; thecal margin spines present on species having compressed coralla. Septal symmetry variable, but hexameral symmetry with four cycles of septa most common. One crown of paliform lobes present before penultimate or rarely the antepenultimate cycle of septa. Columella fascicular, composed of several twisted laths. Exclusively azooxanthellate and common in deep water.