Plexaurella nutans

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Species of coral

title: "Plexaurella nutans" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["plexauridae", "corals-described-in-1860"] description: "Species of coral" topic_path: "general/plexauridae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plexaurella_nutans" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Species of coral ::

| image = Elephant-ear-sponge.jpg | image_caption = Coral reef assembly with Plexaurella nutans at right back | taxon = Plexaurella nutans | authority = (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1860) | synonyms = * Campanularia flabellata Hincks, 1866

Plexaurella nutans, the giant slit-pore sea rod, is a tall species of soft coral in the family Plexauridae. It is a relatively uncommon species and is found in shallow seas in the Caribbean region.

Description

Plexaurella nutans can grow to a height of over a metre (yard). The colour of this coral is usually pale brown, grey or sometimes lavender.

Distribution and habitat

Plexaurella nutans is an uncommon species and occurs at depths down to 50 m in the Caribbean Sea, the Bahamas and Florida. It is usually found on isolated patch reefs or on forereef slopes.

Biology

The polyps of Plexaurella nutans extend their tentacles to feed on zooplankton and other small invertebrates floating past. The food gathered is shared with neighbouring polyps via the gastrovascular cavity inside the coral's skeleton. After particles of liver marked with a radioactive tracer were fed experimentally to a single polyp, radioactivity was detected in tissues up to 11 cm away.

Plexaurella nutans is a zooxanthellate species of coral with large numbers of symbiotic dinoflagellates from the genus Symbiodinium living in its tissues. These are photosynthetic algae that provide nourishment to their host while benefiting from the coral's waste products. It was found experimentally that different species of Symbiodinium were found at different depths in Plexaurella nutans and other corals. If the corals' tissues were cultured in the laboratory, other species again became apparent, the growth of which was favoured by the laboratory environment. These must have been undetected in the tissues previously.

References

References

  1. van Ofwegen, Leen. (2012). "''Plexaurella nutans'' (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1860)".
  2. (1978). "Marine Invertebrates and Plants of the Living Reef". T.F.H. Publications.
  3. "''Plexaurella nutans'' (Duchassaing 1860)". CoralPedia.
  4. "Giant slit-pore sea rod (''Plexaurella nutans'')". Marine Species Identification Portal.
  5. Murdock, Gordon R.. (1978). "Digestion, Assimilation, and Transport of Food in the Gastrovascular Cavity of a Gorgonian Octocoral (Cnidaria; Anthozoa)". Bulletin of Marine Science.
  6. LaJeunesse, T.. (2002). "Diversity and community structure of symbiotic dinoflagellates from Caribbean coral reefs". Marine Biology.

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plexauridaecorals-described-in-1860