Class Anthozoa Rank Species | Order Alcyonacea | |
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Similar Sinuous sea fan, Whip fan, Palmate sea fan, Leminda millecra, Gorgonian twig coral | ||
The nippled sea fan, Eunicella papillosa, is a species of gorgonian sea fan in the family Gorgoniidae.
Contents
Description
This fan is short and pale cream to orange in colour. It grows upright or in bushy masses, with irregular or frequent branches coming off the main basal stem. The branches are covered on all sides with many small bumps from which the polyps extend. It may grow up to 18cm tall and have branches of 0.2 to 0.4cm wide.
Distribution
This sea fan is found only around the southern African coast from Luderitz to Sodwana in 1-360 m of water.
Ecology
This sea fan usually grows in areas sheltered from strong current. It is preyed upon by the whip fan nudibranch, Tritonia nilsodhneri, which strongly resembles the feeding fan.
References
Nippled sea fan Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA