Description
Also known as Octocoral, Sea Whip, Whip Coral, Whip Gorgonian, White Sea Whip, Wire Coral, White Sea Whip.
Found in colonies, (sometimes in their thousands) over strong, current swept reef flats, and slopes, the upper third of their bodies are bent over. Brittle stars use the whips to climb up, exposing themselves to the current for collecting food.
They feed on plankton.
Length - 200cm
Depth - 1-22m
Widespread Indo-Pacific
Other animals live symbiotically with these sea whips.
Bivalve - Pteria brevialata
Gobies - Bryaninops
Brittle Stars
They are called Black Corals because the inner skeleton is black, over this they have a fleshy skin that varies in colour with the different corals.
The polyps have six tentacles which although cannot be retracted, may shrink if disturbed.
A number of other animals live in the branches. Ref: x
1 comment
Posted by RachelHi, This is a great website. Very informative. I know you want it to be as accurate as possible so I wanted to let you know that Junceela fragilis is actually in the family Ellisellidae and is not a black coral. It is an octocoral so it has 8 tentacles not 6. There are sea whips that are black corals (Antipatharia), like Stichopathes and Cirrhipathes. There are also sea whips that are in the family Isididae which are the bamboo corals (also 8 tentacles).