Plexauridae

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Family of corals

title: "Plexauridae" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["plexauridae", "holaxonia", "cnidarian-families"] description: "Family of corals" topic_path: "general/plexauridae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plexauridae" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Family of corals ::

| image = Paramuricea_clavata_(Risso,_1826)_3.jpg | image_caption = Paramuricea clavata with polyps extended | taxon = Plexauridae | authority = Gray, 1859 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision =

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.

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.

Genera

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

Before a 2022 taxonomic revision of the Octocorallia, the family also contained the following genera:

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Bebryce_sulfurea.jpg" caption="''[[Bebryce sulfurea]]''"] ::

References

References

  1. van Ofwegen, Leen. (2012). "Plexauridae".
  2. S. T. DeVictor & S. L. Morton. (2007). "Family Plexauridae". Guide to the Shallow Water Octocorals of the South Atlantic Bight.
  3. "Plexauridae Gray, 1859".
  4. (2022). "Revisionary systematics of Octocorallia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) guided by phylogenomics". Bulletin of the Society of Systematic Biologists.
  5. "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Plexauridae Gray, 1859".

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plexauridaeholaxoniacnidarian-families