The present paper comprises a review of the Caribbean shallow water Corallimorpharia. Six species, belonging to four genera and three families are treated, including Pseudocorynactis caribbeorum gen. nov. spec. nov., a species with tentacular acrospheres containing the largest spirocysts ever described. Several genera and species have been synonymised. The monotypic family Ricordeidae Watzl, 1922, has been re-established to accommodate Ricordea Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1860. In Ricordea florida a correlation was noticed between depth of occurrence and the rate of asexual reproduction; shallow water specimens of this species as a rule exhibit clonal growth, specimens from deeper water invariable are solitary. All genera of Discosomatidae (= Actinodiscidae sensu Carlgren, 1949), save one, have been lumped together in a single genus, Discosoma Rüppell & Leuckart, 1828. Speculations about food uptake in Discosomatidae are put forward. The structure of corallimorpharian and scleractinian nematocysts is quite similar. Actiniarian and zoantharian penicilli (p-rhabdoids) A and corallimorpharian, scleractinian and antipatharian penicilli D, both sensu Schmidt (1969, 1972, 1972a and 1974), do not essentially differ in structure; they are to be regarded as sub-types of a single basic type. Three more or less distinct varieties of corallimorpharian penicilli D can be distinguished. Schmidt's scleractinian and corallimorpharian holotrichs I (cf. Schmidt, 1972; 1974) in fact represent an additional type of penicilli, here defined as penicilli E. The distribution of penicilli Ε in the scleractinian polyp tends to be considerably more restricted than in the corallimorpharian polyp. The systematic status of the Corallimorpharia is discussed. The group does not fundamentally differ from the Scleractinia and should be classified among the latter as a separate sub-order. The distributional patterns of Discosoma sensu lato, Ricordea and Corynactis are discussed. Discosoma and Ricordea have a discontinuous distribution in tropical waters. Corynactis has a world-wide, continuous distribution in tropical and temperate waters. Long distance transport seems a possible way of dispersal in Corynactis, not in Discosoma and Ricordea.