Family: Plexauridae

Common Name(s): Black sausage coral.

Colony Form: Fingerlike colony of few thick long branches arising from near the base in all directions, to ~80 cm tall.

Axis: Cylindrical in cross-section.

Branches: Branches are >50% of colony height, 10-18 mm in diameter, with bulbous tips.

Apertures: Well-spaced around branches; hemispherical, surrounded by eight small lobes and with long lower lip that sometimes covers upper lip.

Mucus: Absent

Color: Medium brown. Dark polyps.

Sclerites: Polyp armature of rods 0.05-0.2 mm long. Axial layer: ornate, colorless or pale violet spindles. Middle layer: diverse spindle forms usually 0.5-1.7 mm long. Surface layer: foliate clubs, enlarged or robust, 0.1-0.19 mm long.

Habitat: Leeward terrace reefs and hard bottoms, 5-20 m depths.

Distribution: South Florida, Bahamas, Gulf of Mexico, and throughout the Caribbean Sea.

Notes: Branches are thickest in the genus. Grows mainly through asexual propagation, often via fallen stolon-like branches.

References: Bayer (1961), Cairns (1977), Collin et al. (2005), Felder & Camp (2009), Sánchez (2009), Shepard (2010).

Similar Species: Eunicea tourneforti