Family: Plexauridae

Common Name(s): Dwarf sea rod, Dwarf plexaurella

Colony Form: Low to moderate height, bushy, laterally branched

Axis: Present

Branches: End branches short or long, straight or curved, crowded or sparse, 3.5-4.5 mm in diameter, often with slightly swollen tips.

Apertures: With raised rims.

Mucus: None

Color: Pale tan, putty; dries tan, putty

Sclerites: Outer layer: minute sexradiates ~0.05-0.1 mm long. Middle layer: belted spindles, straight or bent, ~0.3 mm long, with a few triradiates and butterfly-forms. Axial layer: straight blunt spindles with warts in transverse belts, 0.2 mm long, with a few butterfly-forms, which become stouter near colony base and accompanied by more numerous capstans.

Habitat: On reefs.

Distribution: Known chiefly from Brazil; possible records from Lesser Antilles, Caribbean coast of Mexico and west coast of Florida. Depths unknown.

Notes: Low, bushy growth form with crowded branches may resemble Eunicea fusca. Branches tend to be more slender than those of other Plexaurella species. Oval, more widely spaced apertures distinguish it from Eunicea species. Wirtz et al. (2009) recorded two unidentified shrimp as symbionts.

References: Bayer (1961), Wirtz et al. (2009).

Similar Species: Eunicea fusca; Eunicea pallida; Eunicea pinta