Fire In The Deep

Many an unwary diver has learned the hard way that not everything in the reef is as it seems. Fire Corals for example, look rather like real corals and can vary widely in shape, taking blade, branching, box, and even encrusting forms. But these colonial marine organisms are more closely related to jellyfish and other stinging anemones - and act accordingly.

Fire Corals are found on reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans but are also encountered in the Atlantic off the Florida coast and in the Caribbean. Inattentive divers often make accidental contact, causing the coral's transparent, nematocyst-laden tentacles to shoot out stingers that cause an intense burning, stinging pain that can last from anywhere from two days to two weeks. However the pain does not begin to burn until 5 to 30 minutes after contact, making Fire Coral stings difficult to diagnose. Indeed because of the delayed reaction time, divers may not even realize that they have been stung at first or even what caused the injury.

Once stung, victims experience a red rash with raised weals or vesicles plus itching and swelling of the lymph glands. Nausea and vomiting have been reported, and in very rare cases the stings can prove downright dangerous if the victim suffers an allergic reaction or anaphylactic shock.

Yet despite these hazards, some dedicated (and hardy) marine aquarists will add Fire corals to their reef tanks, and while they will certainly thrive under the right conditions, it's best to keep your surfaces well clear of their surfaces...