#gorgonian wrapper

[ciameth]

Smaugust 2 - Gorgonian Wrapper Auk Seadragon

Last month I asked people to send me some of their favorite animals/plants/minerals. I'm now dragonizing the items on that list for Smaugust art prompts, attempting to draw one a day through the entire month.

Two suggestions from two different people - the Gorgonian Wrapper and Great Auk. After seeing how Gorgonian Wrapper anemomes latch onto, well, gorgonians, I thought it might be interesting to design a seadragon with an anemone-like dorsal ridge. The stinging dorsal ridge on this pelagic hunter deters kleptoparasitic aerial ocean hunters from stealing its prey.

[animalids]

Gorgonian wrapper (Nemanthus annamensis)

Photo by Richard Gray

[nature-and-biodiversity-blog]

Gorgonian Wrapper Nemanthus annamensis

[napoleonicrevival]

[astronomy-to-zoology]

Gorgonian Wrapper (Nemanthus annamensis)

Also known as the Zebra-striped Gorgonian Wrapper as an reference to its coloration, the Gorgonain Wrapper is a species of colonial sea anemone found throughout the Indo-Pacific. This cnidarian is commonly found in strings of individual polyps all of which with individual tentacles.

Phylogeny

Animalia-Cnidaria-Anthozoa-Hexacorallia-Actiniaria-Nemanthidae-Nemanthus-annamensis

Image source(s)