Purple Sea Pen (Virgularia gustaviana)

Appearance

This sea pen is a filtering marine animal, not sedentary, it moves. It is characterized by a very elongated shape, a spine of regular width, straight, with symmetrical branches, moderately wide, but almost equal in width from the bottom to the top. The foot is fleshy, buried in the sand. The branches are branching, polyps only on the ventral side. The polyps present 8 pinnate tentacles. Size 10- 20 cm

Sea Pen - Virgulariidae Rojos, Lembeh.
Sea pens are colonial marine cnidarians belonging to the order Pennatulacea. They are grouped with the octocorals ("soft corals"), together with sea whips or gorgonians. The group is named for its supposed resemblance to antique quill pens. Feathery sea pens stand upright in the sand like the quill of a feather. The central axis has flat branch-like extensions on which the polyps are clustered. They are usually white or cream. The peduncle is very long and the entire colony can retract into the sand if disturbed. Geotagged,Indonesia,Lembeh,Purple Sea Pen,Spring,Virgularia gustaviana,Virgulariidae,sea Pen,soft coral

Distribution

Indo pacific.

Habitat

It is found on sandy bottoms. It is carnivorous and feeds on plankton. Depth 3- 25 m.

Reproduction

Reproduction: It is carried out by direct budding on the sides of the polyps.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=213071
https://www.sealifebase.ca/summary/Virgularia-gustaviana
http://www.diverosa.nl/categories/Corals_Octocorallia.htm
https://nomadica.jimdofree.com/cnidaires/coraux-mous-plumes-de-mer/virgularia-gustaviana/

Taxonomy
Kingdom	Animalia
Division	Cnidaria
Class	Anthozoa
Order	Pennatulacea
Family	Virgulariidae
Genus	Virgularia
Species	Virgularia gustaviana

Photographed in
Indonesia