The whip fan (''Eunicella albicans''), also called the flagellar sea fan, is a
species of
gorgonian sea fan in the
family Gorgoniidae
Gorgoniidae is a family of soft corals, a member of the subclass Octocorallia in the phylum Cnidaria. Nearly all the genera and species are native to the east and west coasts of America.
Characteristics
Originally the members of the family G ...
.
Description
This fan is orange and has flexible whip-like branches. It may grow up to 70 cm tall and have branches of 0.3 to 0.5 cm wide.
[Branch, G.M., Branch, M.L, Griffiths, C.L. and Beckley, L.E. 2010. ''Two Oceans: a guide to the marine life of southern Africa'' ][Jones, Georgina. ''A field guide to the marine animals of the Cape Peninsula.'' SURG, Cape Town, 2008. ]
Distribution
This sea fan is found only around the South African coast from the Atlantic side of the Cape Peninsula to Port Elizabeth in 10–30 m of water. It is
endemic to this region.
Ecology
This sea fan is preyed upon by the
whip fan nudibranch
''Duvaucelia odhneri'', is a species of dendronotid nudibranch. It is a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Tritoniidae.
The specific name ''odhneri'' is in honour of Swedish malacologist Nils Hjalmar Odhner. This species was originally de ...
, ''Tritonia nilsodhneri'', which closely resembles the feeding fan.
References
Gorgoniidae
Animals described in 1865
{{octocorallia-stub