Plexaurella nutans
A tall, uncommon Caribbean soft coral with slit-pore calyces.
Last updated
Plexaurella nutans is a marine coral species in the family Plexaurellidae, order Malacalcyonacea, class Octocorallia.[1] The height of Plexaurella nutans can exceed one meter, and its branches are thick, cylindrical, occasionally forked, and often have slightly clubbed ends.[2]
Scientific classification
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumCnidaria
- SubphylumAnthozoa
- ClassOctocorallia
- OrderMalacalcyonacea
- FamilyPlexauridae
- GenusPlexaurella
- SpeciesPlexaurella nutans
Named by (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1860)
Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Plexaurella nutans (CC BY-SA 4.0) · differs from this box at family: WoRMS AphiaID 290819 (CC BY 4.0)
Where the plexaurella nutans has been recorded
Each dot is a place where the species has been observed and reported (1,456 records, half-degree grid) — not a modelled range. 8 inland records left out (institution coordinates).
Map: drawn by Codexery. Data: GBIF occurrence search (records CC0 / CC BY) · Natural Earth basemap (public domain) · place coordinates: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Quick Facts
- Height
- over a metre (yard)
- Depth range
- down to 50 metres (160 ft)
- Color
- pale brown
- grey
- or sometimes lavender
- Family
- Plexauridae
- Distribution
- Caribbean Sea, Bahamas, Florida
Facts from the source article.
Biology and range
Large polyps emerge from grooves that are round, oval, or slit-shaped, located within cup-like calyces; each calyx sits on a small bump, creating a dimpled surface on the coral.[3] When polyps are extended, the coral looks fuzzy, and its typical colors are pale brown, grey, or occasionally lavender.[3] This coral is not common; it is found in the Caribbean Sea, the Bahamas, and Florida, at depths reaching 50 m.[4] Through the gastrovascular cavity inside the skeleton, food is distributed to neighboring polyps.[5]
In one experiment, a single polyp was fed a radioactive tracer; later, radioactivity was measured in tissues as far as 11 cm away.[5]
What the specialist sources record
The World Register of Marine Species records Plexaurella nutans as an accepted species described by Duchassaing & Michelotti in 1860, placed in the family Plexaurellidae.[1] GBIF also accepts this taxon and holds 1,548 occurrence records as of 7 October 2026.[6] A 1978 study by Murdock in the Bulletin of Marine Science documented the feeding and food-sharing behaviour of this species.[5] A 2002 study by LaJeunesse in Marine Biology reported on the symbiotic dinoflagellates found in Plexaurella nutans tissues.[7]
References
- World Register of Marine Species, Plexaurella nutans (AphiaID 290819). CC BY 4.0. marinespecies.org
- Wikipedia, "Plexaurella nutans" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Plexaurella nutans (Duchassaing 1860)", CoralPedia (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Plexaurella nutans" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Colin, "Marine Invertebrates and Plants of the Living Reef", T.F.H. Publications, 1978, p. 170; "Plexaurella nutans (Duchassaing 1860)", CoralPedia (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Plexaurella nutans" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Colin, "Marine Invertebrates and Plants of the Living Reef", T.F.H. Publications, 1978, p. 170; "Giant slit-pore sea rod (Plexaurella nutans)", Interactive Guide to Caribbean Diving (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Plexaurella nutans" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Murdock, Gordon R., "Digestion, Assimilation, and Transport of Food in the Gastrovascular Cavity of a Gorgonian Octocoral (Cnidaria; Anthozoa)", Bulletin of Marine Science, 1978, p. 354–362 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence index, Plexaurella nutans (taxon key 2260924). CC BY 4.0 (backbone); counts are facts. gbif.org
- Wikipedia, "Plexaurella nutans" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: LaJeunesse, T., "Diversity and community structure of symbiotic dinoflagellates from Caribbean coral reefs", Marine Biology, 2002, p. 387–400 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Plexaurella nutans (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Soft Corals and Leathers
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Plexaurella nutans (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Classification: the source article's taxobox; compare WoRMS, the World Register of Marine Species (CC BY 4.0).
- Occurrence records: GBIF (CC0 / CC BY). Basemap: Natural Earth (public domain).
- Word definitions: the Codexery glossary, each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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