Cnidarian from the Coast of Goa – Identified to the Species Level

Cnidaria represents a phylum of marine organisms consisting of colony forming aquatic (mostly marine) animals which have a rich potential as a source of drugs and therapeutic agents. One such organism which has gained importance in the contemporary times is zoanthid. There is a growing interest in ascertaining their taxonomic diversity using a combination of molecular, morphological and histological techniques. The unusual life style, symbiotic photosysthesis, ability to form colonies with polyps and the marine niche which they occupy make them a very interesting organism for research. There are many reports of toxicological properties as well as characterization of the methanolic extract of Zooanthids from Indian ocean. However, there is very little work on systematics of these organisms. We report isolation and identification of this soft coral from the intertidal rocky shore of Anjuna (Goa) following standard protocols of morphological, histological and molecular analyses.