#pennatulacea

[marinememes]

Today is Wet Beast Wednesday!

Today’s wet beast is: Sea Pen

Olive’s wet beast fact: contrary to its misleading name, this colony of polyps can not, in fact, write anything. Illiterate liar.

Stay tuned for more Wet Beast Wednesdays!

[life-on-our-planet]

At 2994 meters on a never-before-surveyed seamount north of Johnston Atoll, the team made a thrilling discovery — the chance to examine an animal spotted for the very first time in the Pacific Ocean! The sea pen, a colonial cnidarian, had a single large feeding polyp with pinnate (barbed) tentacles stretching over 40 cm from its 2-meter-long stalk.

Solumbellula monocephalus is the only described species in the genus and until this sighting was only known to live in the North and South Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Before this discovery of the colony, the animal had never been seen in the Pacific Ocean. Further review of the footage and this sample will help experts determine if this is the first Pacific S.monocephalus or potentially a new species in this ocean basin.

Enjoy some beautiful close-ups of this coral relative that astounded our team with a detailed view of its stinging feeding tentacles that capture marine snow and food particles drifting by its home on an underwater mountain sedimented saddle. Two individuals were spotted on this dive, confirming a population within the protection of the Johnston Unit of Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. This huge range expansion of Solumbellula in the Pacific Ocean reminds us how important ocean exploration efforts are to understanding this diversity of our planet!

Learn more about this expedition funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute

🎥video here🎥

[animalids]

Sea pen (Scytalium sp.)

Photo by Ron Yeo

[duckwashus]

[naturetattooideas-blog]

Ernst Haeckel’s Pennatulacea (Sea pen), starting with the shoulder for an eventu… Ernst Haeckel's Pennatulacea (Sea pen), starting with the shoulder for an eventual full sleeve. Ridiculous feathery details with ridiculous feather needles with my own dumb shadow in the picture. 💁🏼 Click here for tattoo details.

[utopianama]

Sea Pens (Pennatulacea)

source: http://www.elist10.com/top-10-freaky-creatures-sea/

[20000fish]

Sea pen (Order Pennatulacea)

Sea pen coral, among the specimens Aronnax notes in the Nautilus' salon, is soft coral in one of the 16 families of the order Pennatulacea. Although its common name comes from its resemblance to a quill pen, most sea pens do not have the feathery appearance that inspired the name. Pictured is one that does: the slender sea pen (Stylatula elongata).

[scientificillustration]

Sea Pens (Cnidaria: Octocorallia: Pennatulacea)

"A. Anthoptilum sp. B. Umbellula lindahli. C. Ptilosarcus gurneyi. D. Protoptilum carpenteri. E. Pennatula sp. Illustrations by Laura Garrison (C), Stephanie King (A), and Jessica Machnicki (B, D, E), California Academy of Sciences."

'The Global Diversity of Sea Pens (Cnidaria: Octocorallia: Pennatulacea)'