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Family

Plexauridae

Common Name(s)

Wagenaar's false Plexaura

Colony Form

Small, dichotomously branched, bushy or monoplanar, tall.

Axis

Cylindrical

Branches

Few, long, thin, tapering, with tips 3-4 mm in diameter.

Apertures

Small, smooth, round to slightly oval, with lower rim sometimes slightly raised; ~ 0.5-1.0 mm across; crowded, but may be separated by more or less than their own diameters. No projecting calices.

Mucus

Slimy

Color

Beige to purple with chestnut brown to dark brown polyps. Dries gray to brown. In alcohol white, gray, or brown.

Sclerites

Polyp armature: few flat small rods. Axial layer: purple capstans, becoming complicated dark purple spheroids when fully developed, and purple spindles, sometimes branched. Outer layer: abundant clubs with thick, spheroidal heads, sometimes with 3 or more leaves or flanges, to >0.2 mm long; many colorless, often complex, capstans, and both white and purple small stout spindles with crowded complicated tubercles (usually 0.2-0.4 mm).

Habitat

Shallow reefs 0-30 m.

Distribution

South Florida, Bermuda, Caribbean Sea.

Notes

Similar to P. flagellosa, but distinguished by shorter growth form and fewer branches (Keith, 1992). Flamingo tongue gastropods, Cyphoma spp., are common predators (Harvell & Suchanek, 1987).

Date Taken

4-11-2016

 
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