Snowflake Coral; Carijoa riisei
Snowflake Coral eat mainly zooplankton, tiny drifting organisms that live in the ocean. The primary evolutionary advantage that these types of coral have is their mesenteries, tiny membranes that exist in their stomaches. The mesenteries increase the surface area of the stomach lining, allowing them to digest more efficiently. There are also mobile filaments that exist, which can gather more food for the organism. For the most part, however, nematocysts on the coral polyps pull in most of the coral's diet. The snowflake coral is a more voracious predator of zooplanton than many other plankton, allowing it to dominate other organisms by outcompeting them.