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| sea pens text index | photo index |
| Phylum Cnidaria > Class Anthozoa > Subclass Alcyonaria/Octocorallia > Order Pennatulacea |
| Common
sea pen Pteroides sp.* Family Pteroeididae updated Dec 08 Where seen? This feathery animal with an orange foot is sometimes seen on our Northern shores. In soft silty sand and near seagrasses. Features: Those seen on our shores are about 15-20cm long (but some species of Pteroides are said to grow to 60cm long!). Long, fat, sausage-like primary polyp with brown blotches and an orange 'foot'. Short (2-3cm) leaf-like structures edged lots of tiny spikes. Tiny secondary polyps emerge from these leaf-like structures. It has an orange foot, which is usually buried in the ground. This can be seen in uprooted ones that are sometimes seen washed ashore. When exposed at low tide, the central stalk is often bent over in half so the colony looks like a limp feather. Pen pals: The tiny Painted porcelain crab (Porcellanella picta) is often found in pairs in this sea pen. |
 Sometimes seen uprooted. Chek Jawa, Jul 05  |
 Bent over at low tide Changi, Jul 04 |
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Common sea pens on Singapore Shores
 Pasir Ris, Dec 08  Tiny polyps on the sea fan. |
 Beting Bronok, Jun 06  A pair of half-hidden porcellain crabs. |
 Pulau Sekudu, May 03  |
 Changi, Aug 05 |
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 Changi, Jul 04 |
*Species are difficult to positively identify without close examination.
On this website, they are grouped by external features for convenience of display.
References
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IKAN-Unterwasserachiv, Frankfurt. 305 pp.|
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