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Family

Gorgoniidae

Common Name(s)

Rigid sea plume

Colony Form

Pinnate, plumose, to 1.5 m tall.

Axis

Cylindrical

Branches

Pinnules round, long, tapered near tips, irregularly spaced, stiffer than others in the genus but still flexible.

Apertures

Slit-like to oval, 1 mm across, in single irregular row or multiple series not strongly restricted to sides of pinnules. Also irregularly distributed or in winding row(s) along main branches.

Mucus

None

Color

Pale lavender both alive and preserved; dries tan to white.

Sclerites

Polyp armature: few small simple rods or none. Body wall: scaphoids (curved sclerites) with smooth convex profile and blunt tips bearing clusters of tubercles, 0.07-0.11 mm long; spindles blunt, to 0.13 mm long.

Habitat

On reefs as shallow as 4 m, but typically deeper, 15-50 m.

Distribution

South Florida, Bahamas, West Indies.

Notes

Williams and Chen (2012) transferred all Western Atlantic species ofPseudopterogorgia to the genus Antillogorgia. Sanchez & Wirshing (2005) treat A. blanquillensis (Stiasny, 1941) as a junior synonym ofA. rigida. May be preyed upon by the flamingo tongue gastropodCyphoma gibbosum.

Date Taken

April 2016

Image Location

 
COinS