---
title: "Balanophyllia (Balanophyllia) elegans"
description: "Balanophyllia elegans — Andere dieren. Balanophyllia elegans, the orange coral or orange cup coral, is a species of solitary cup coral, a stony coral in the family Dendrophylliidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/orange-cup-coral-balanophyllia-elegans
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Balanophyllia (Balanophyllia) elegans

> Balanophyllia elegans — Andere dieren. Balanophyllia elegans, the orange coral or orange cup coral, is a species of solitary cup coral, a stony coral in the family Dendrophylliidae.

- Scientific name: *Balanophyllia elegans*
- Category: `other` (Andere dieren)
- Habitats: `sea` (Zee en kust)
- iNaturalist observations: 1533
- Wikidata: [Q3955389](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3955389)
- iNaturalist taxon: [51799](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/51799)

## Names

- en: Orange Cup Coral
- es: Coral Copa Elegante
- nl: Balanophyllia (Balanophyllia) elegans

## Countries with the most observations

US (951), CA (460)

## Summary

Balanophyllia elegans, the orange coral or orange cup coral, is a species of solitary cup coral, a stony coral in the family Dendrophylliidae. It is native to the eastern Pacific Ocean. As an azooxanthellate species, it does not contain symbiotic dinoflagellates in its tissues in the way that most corals do.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanophyllia_elegans

## Photo

![Balanophyllia (Balanophyllia) elegans](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/orange-cup-coral-balanophyllia-elegans/medium.jpg)

Photo: Jessica Carver · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/329797279

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/orange-cup-coral-balanophyllia-elegans?lang=nl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).