Example 6a

All images copyright protected, © Doug Segar and Elaine Stamman Segar.

This photograph shows the upper 7-10 cm of a sea pen, probably Veretillum sp. Sea pens are specialized corals that are adapted to live in sand. The entire colony can be withdrawn into the sand or extended up into the water column to feed. This one is extended into the water column but its polyps are mostly closed. You can see some of the individual polyps opening near the tip on the left side. However, the sea pen is not the only animal in this photograph. Can you see the other one? It's an animal whose shape is much more well known to us than the sea pen.