Preview
Family
Plexauridae
Common Name(s)
Rough sea plume, Lamarck's muriceopsis
Colony Form
Tall, plumose, with several long main branches and sometimes with secondary plumes arising from main branches, to 75 cm tall.
Axis
Present
Branches
Terminal side branchlets (pinnules) 5-8 cm long, 2.5 mm in diameter, cylindrical, arising from all sides of main branches.
Apertures
Crowded, <1 mm across, sometimes with small lower lip; on all sides of branches and pinnules.
Mucus
None
Color
Purple, purplish-pink, dull brown or buff white; dried colonies olive yellow, grayish yellow, reddish-brown, purple. Colony color depends on proportion of yellow and purple spindles in surface layer.
Sclerites
Outer layer: stout spindles with spines on one side, ~0.3 mm long, and asymmetrical clubs 0.20-0.25 mm long. Axial layer: slender, purple, acute spindles to 0.3 mm long.
Habitat
Shallow to moderate depths (subtidal to 33 m), chiefly on patch reefs.
Distribution
South Florida, Bahamas and Caribbean Sea (possibly Bermuda).
Similar Species
Date Taken
4-11-2016
Notes
Superficially similar to plumose Antillogorgia species, but with cylindrical branchlets that arise all around main branches, not just in one plane.