Plexauridae

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Plexauridae
Paramuricea clavata (Risso, 1826) 3.jpg
Paramuricea clavata with polyps extended
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Subphylum: Anthozoa
Class: Octocorallia
Order: Malacalcyonacea
Family: Plexauridae
Gray, 1859 [1]
Genera
See text

Plexauridae is a family of marine colonial octocorals in the phylum Cnidaria. Members of this family are found in shallow tropical and subtropical seas. Many species contain symbiotic photosynthetic protists called zooxanthellae.

Contents

Characteristics

The Plexauridae have a branching colony form and many are known as sea rods or sea fans. The axial core of the coral skeleton is horny and hollow, and contains no sclerites. This is covered by a layer of tissue called coenenchyme in which is embedded calcareous sclerites. The sclerites are very varied in form in the Plexauridae, and examination of their morphology is helpful in identifying the different species. The calyces in which the polyps sit are strengthened by further sclerites and have eight fine dividing walls called septa. The polyps each have eight pinnate tentacles. [2]

Genera

The World Register of Marine Species includes these genera in this family: [3]


Before a 2022 taxonomic revision of the Octocorallia, [4] the family also contained the following genera: [5]

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Genera left family incertae sedis due to insufficient molecular or morphological evidence. [4]
Eunicea mammosa Eunicea mammosa2.jpg
Eunicea mammosa
Bebryce sulfurea Bebryce sulfurea.jpg
Bebryce sulfurea

References

  1. van Ofwegen, Leen (2012). "Plexauridae". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 2012-12-19.
  2. S. T. DeVictor & S. L. Morton (2007). "Family Plexauridae". Guide to the Shallow Water Octocorals of the South Atlantic Bight. Retrieved 2012-12-19.
  3. World List of Octocorallia. McFadden, C.S.; Cordeiro, R.; Samimi-Namin, K.; Williams, G.; van Ofwegen, L. (eds.). "Plexauridae Gray, 1859". World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 6 September 2025.
  4. 1 2 McFadden, Catherine S.; Van Ofwegen, Leen P.; Quattrini, Andrea M. (2022). "Revisionary systematics of Octocorallia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) guided by phylogenomics". Bulletin of the Society of Systematic Biologists. 1 (3). doi: 10.18061/bssb.v1i3.8735 .
  5. "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Plexauridae Gray, 1859". marinespecies.org. Archived from the original on 31 March 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-31.