Hexacorallia

Hexacorallia is a subclass of Anthozoa comprising approximately 4,300 species of water-based organisms formed of colonial polyps generally with 6-fold symmetry. This includes all of the stony corals, which are vital for coral reef formation, as well as all sea anemones, tube anemones, and zoanthids within six extant orders. They are distinguished from the other subclass of Anthozoa, Octocorallia, in having six or fewer lines of symmetry in their body structure and only single rows of tentacles. These organisms are formed of individual soft polyps which in some live in colonies and can secrete a calcite skeleton. As with all Cnidarians these organisms have a complex life cycle including a motile phase when they are considered plankton and later characteristic sessile phase. It also includes the significant extinct orders of the rugose corals and tabulate corals