Wildlife Spotting

Beautiful!!

The white on the pictures can be a number of things, the polyps here are white so maybe that some are out only in small sections, otherwise these can also shed a kind of mucus layer which looks like has happened here so could also be that, sometimes you also catch them after a spawn and unusual patches can be eggs!

Going from the location i think its highly unlikely that its Plexaura as predominantly a caribean species, there are very few species that occur in both centers of diversity, id say it was more likely either Isis hippuris or Ruphella sp. i use the Tropical Pacific Invertebrates guide (TPI) but like i said ill get confirmation on this.

I'm on my phone so I will have to check later on when I have my computer on, but I know 2 gorgonian experts so if I can't I will forward to them, =)

Georgonians are such a big family you will see them everywhere now, see fans associated with pygmy seahorses are also gorgonians! I bet you have some beutiful ones by you, ill be in indonesia in 6 weeks, can't wait

Even though it feels semi hard, the definition of a hard coral is one that secretes a cacium carbonate skeleton, these do not so are in tho soft coral family. If you cut of a branch and took it out of the water a hard coral would slowly lose its tissue and turn white leaving the skeleton, but these turn black! Its 100% a gorgonian, they can be very deceiving though I've had students bring me these when I've asked for porites spp. Seems obvious once you know but for someone who has never been told not obvious at all!

The eol reference is http://eol.org/pages/41355/overview. I have checked out a few of the links and no pictures or descriptions. By the way, the polyps can be seen quite clearly on the secopnd photo. I am not sure what the white is but I suspect that it is bleaching; ie the coral is under stress and expelling the algae. I am a geochemist with a specialty in near shore marine geology. I therefore yield all my observations to be enlightened by marine biologist that study corals. I find coral fascinating.

Beautiful coral

The coral somewhat resemble the Gorgonian Sea Rod in the Caribbean. Sea The species may be Plexaura and there are quite a few of variations of the species. The colors of the Caribbean sprecies ranges between brown and purple. Very little data in Encyclopedia of Life or Wiki. My reference is Guide to Corals and fishes of the Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean by Idaz Greenberg.

Enjoying your photos of corals. Sometimes I enjoy them more than the fish.

This is a type of gorgonian ill have to check the species http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgonian