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ABOUT THE PINK SEAFAN
| TAXONOMY |
| Phyla: |
Cnidaria |
| Superclass: |
Anthozoa |
| Class: |
Octocorallia |
| Order: |
Gorgonacia |
| Family: |
Plexauridae |
| Genus: |
Eunicella |
| Species: |
verrucosa |
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BASIC DESCRIPTION
The "pink" sea fan may be white to deep pink in colour. Colonies branch profusely and the branches are covered in warty protuberances from which the small anemone-like polyps emerge. Colonies may be up to 80 cm high but more often up to 25 cm and are usually oriented in one plane (at right angles to the prevailing water currents).
BASIC BIOLOGY
Movement:
Colonies are fixed to the substrate with a ‘holdfast’ (similar to that of kelp plants), and never move during their adult phase.
Feeding:
It feeds by using genetically identical anenome-like polyps to capture zooplankton (floating food) from the water column. Colonies are orientated at right angles to the current, such that their largest surface area faces the current (this is the same with many other gorgonian species). The pink sea fan is related to tropical corals, but like tropical gorgonian species, only feeds by capturing food from the water column.
Respiration:
Pink sea fans respire using oxygen combined with digestion of zooplankton food to produce required energy for metabolic function. They are heterotrophs.
Growth rate:
Approximately 10mm per year, but this will depend on the age of the colony, differences in levels of food supply and environmental variables (water temperature/depth/currents) between sites.
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