Did you ever meet a coral that can dance?

I met this supercool coral in Fiji, first time i've seen anything like this and i was in awe. I'd like you to meet the pulsating pom pom xenia coral. . .

It's such a lovely thing to see because it looks so graceful. When I looked it up after my dive it made me smile to find that it's been dubbed the 'pom pom' coral. But it totally looks like a crazy underwater cheering team, dancing at the fishes that swim by, or any divers that happen to pass their way! There is a whole genus of xenia elongata corals which are also referred to as waving hand corals!
So whats all the motion about? You might think that these corals are attempting to grab their food out of the water, snatching at morsels, but scientists have discovered that the xenia are photosynthetic, mostly taking their energy from the sun and possibly filtering some dissolved organics from the water. It has been suggested perhaps they are actually trying to better oxygenate themselves in order to increase their photosynthesis rate. The truth is somewhat of a mystery but if you are lucky enough to meet the dancing coral I am sure you will be delighted by their entrancing movements.