Preview
Family
Plexauridae
Common Name(s)
Pinnate spiny sea fan
Colony Form
Tall, fan-shaped, pinnately branched in one plane, to 45 cm tall.
Axis
Present
Branches
End branches stiff, widely spaced, slightly enlarged at tips, to 50 mm long, usually 20-30 mm; arising from main stems at right angles but soon turning upward; occasionally interconnecting.
Apertures
Well spaced (not crowded), prominent, with pointed lower lip but no spike, directed upward toward branch tip.
Mucus
None
Color
Yellow or yellowish-brown; dries yellow to orange. Sclerites amber.
Sclerites
Outer layer and calices: spindles ranging from slender with fine thorns 0.2-0.3 mm long, to stout with tubercles on outer surface modified as blunt thorns but no strong spines, to 1.2 mm. Inner layer: acute spiny spindles near branch tips, 0.15-0.45 mm long; short capstans lower in colony, 0.15-0.35 mm.
Habitat
Moderate to deep forereefs at depths of 13-36 m.
Distribution
Carolinas, occasional on both coasts of Florida, northern Gulf of Mexico. Not reported from Bahamas or Caribbean Sea.
References
Similar Species
Date Taken
4-11-2016
Notes
Similar to Muricea pinnata but distinguished by red color when alive; in M. pendula, the large pointed sclerites of calices lack a terminal spike, inner sclerites are larger and end branches thicker.