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Heliofungia is a genus of stony corals from the family Fungidae. These solitary living mushroom corals belong to the large polyp stony corals and consist of only one polyp. As adults they live freely on sandy surfaces, as juveniles they are still firmly attached to the rock. Distribution is from the southeastern Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean from Australia to Okinawa, Micronesia and New Caledonia. The preferred habitat is shallow, light-flooded lagoons. It is a monotypic genus with Heliofungia actiniformis as the only species. As the scientific name already suggests, the animals look confusingly similar to anemones, because they have similar long tentacles.Heliofungia
The animals reach 30 to 50 cm in diameter and have the longest tentacles of all corals with lengths up to 25 cm. The color is often beige, with contrasting pink or green tips. Rarely, green or bicolored specimens also occur. They live in symbiosis with zooxanthellae and thus can feed on light, but also accept supplemental feeding with coarse food particles and can absorb nutrients through the water column. They are sensitive to mechanical injury from which they recover only with difficulty. They make few demands on water quality, requiring medium-low lighting and a gentle current. It is best to place them on the sand.
