 |
|
|
gorgonian
text index | photo
index
|
| Phylum Cnidaria > Class Anthozoa > Subclass Alcyonaria/Octocorallia > Order Gorgonacea |
| Skinny
sea fans Astrogorgia sp.* Family Plexauridae updated Mar 13 Where seen? This sea fan with long, skinny branches are sometimes seen in numbers on our Northern shores, including Changi and even the East Coast. On coral rubble, rocks, stones and in sand. Features: 10-20cm long. Generally with long branches without much side branching. In some colonies, the long branches are neatly and evenly spaced along the central stem on one plane so the whole colony looks like the veins of a leaf. But in some large colonies, the long branches are tangled. Stems long, skinny and somewhat flattened. Colours seen include red, maroon, orange and yellow. The white polyps are relatively large (0.5cm) compared to the stem and emerge on opposite edges of the flattened stems. Those seen on our shores often have all kinds of small animals clinging onto to them including tiny colourful brittle stars, transparent shrimps and ovulid snails. |
 East Coast, Jun 06  Changi, Jul 09 |
 Changi, May 06 |
 Pulau Sekudu, Aug 06 |
 Chek Jawa, Jul 05 |
Skinny sea fans on Singapore Shores
| Photos for free download from wildsingapore flickr |
more
photos of skinny sea fans on Singapore shores
*Species
are difficult to positively identify without close examination.
On this website, they are grouped by external features for convenience of display.
On this website, they are grouped by external features for convenience of display.
|
Links
References
|
.
Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Museum and
Art Gallery of the Northern Territoriy. 264 pp.|
|