Title

Plexaurella grisea (Kunze, 1916)

Photographer

Charles Messing, Nova Southeastern University

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Family

Plexauridae

Common Name(s)

Gray plexaurella, Gray sea rod

Colony Form

Colonies tall, bushy, dichotomously branched, with long thin branches arising near the base and through half-way up colony height.

Branches

Branches thin, straight, firm and stiff; 5-12 mm in diameter.

Apertures

Oval and pore-like, conspicuously open; mostly smooth, or with aperture margins slightly elevated; long axes of apertures oriented along branch.

Mucus

None

Color

Light brown, beige, or grey.

Sclerites

Polyp armature: small flat rods 0.06 mm long. Axial layer: 6-radiates ~0.15 mm across, and some flattened rods. Middle layer: stout 6-radiates, some with two longer rays; also short-rayed, stubby butterfly sclerites. Surface layer: small 6-radiates, most with two rays slightly longer.

Habitat

Common on patch reefs and inshore, less common on deep reefs.

Distribution

South Florida, Bermuda and throughout the Caribbean Sea.

Notes

Most middle layer sclerites are 6-radiates with two arms more strongly developed; also some short-rayed, stubby butterfly sclerites (Bayer 1961). Preyed upon by the generalist octocoral predatory snail Cyphoma gibbosum, but also by Cyphoma signatum, a specialist predator on Plexaurella spp. (Ruesink and Harvell 1990).

References

Bayer (1961), Opresko (1973), Cairns (1977), Wheaton (1987), Ruesink & Harvell (1990), Lewis et al. (1992), Sánchez & Wirshing (2005).

Plexaurella nutans; Plexaurella fusifera; Plexaurella dichotoma; Pseudoplexaura porosa; Pseudoplexaura flagellosa; Pseudoplexaura wagenaari; Eunicea knighti; Eunicea pinta

Date Taken

4-11-2016