Family: Ellisellidae

Common Name(s): Red sea whip, Devil's sea whip

Colony Form: Unbranched, whiplike, to ~8 mm across near the base and sometimes >2 m in length, slightly tapered.

Axis: Cylindrical; calcified, solid, with a radial pattern visible in cross section.

Branches: None

Apertures: Calices upturned, rounded, prominent, sometimes scale-like, in two or multiple lateral bands.

Mucus: None

Color: Orange to red. Polyps white. Brick red to white dried.

Sclerites: Polyp armature: Small flattened double spindles in tentacles; small rods ~0.04 mm long in pharynx. Calices: elongated double spindles to 0.12 mm long. Outer layer: chiefly double-headed dumbbells with crowded regular tubercles, to 0.06 mm long. Axial layer: chiefly flattened capstans to 0.08 mm long. Color: amber to colorless.

Habitat: Deeper reefs, especially on steep slopes and walls in 25-220 m.

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

Notes: Formerly referred to as Ellisella barbadensis. Unlike most local octocorals, C. barbadensis belongs to suborder Calcaxonia; members have a calcified, solid axis without a hollow core.

References: Bayer (1961), Cairns (1977), Sanchez & Wirshing (2005).