Gorgonians

Yellow sea

Eunicella cavolinii
Gorgonian with fan-shaped colonies which are highly ramified, often dichotomically. The branches are flexible and rough in correspondence with the polyps. Yellow. Grows on rocky bottoms from 10 to 150 meters deep.

Maximum size 30-40 centimeters.

Red coral

Corallium rubrum

Typical Mediterranean antozoan, shaped like a branched tree. Recognised by its color, which is generally red, and for the white polyps with 8 feathered tentacles.

Grows on rocky bottoms with little light or inside caves and crevices from 5-10 meters to over 100 meters deep.

This is a protected species and can grow to over 20-30 centimeters in height.

Red Gorgonia

Paramuricea clavata

Red gorgonian with huge fans made up of dense irreguiar ramifications, often merged into each other. The branches are thin and flexible and the presence of defensive spicules give them their rough surface. Athough it is dark red in color there are specimens with yellow tipped branches. Grows on rocky bottoms below depths 30-35 meters.

Maximum height 1 meter.

Hermit anemone 

Beadtlet anemone

Actinia equina

Actinia with wide adhesive base from which emerges a column whose tip is surrounded by 200 short  tentacles set in concentric rows. Easily identified by its bright red coloring. Lives in the tidal area and when the tide goes out it contracts into a kind of compact bail.

Grows up to 7 centimeters diameter.

Snakelocks anemone

Anemonia sulcata

Actinia with wide adhesive base easily identified by iys long tentacles; which are only partly retractable. Iarge numbers grow close together locally. Lives on hard substrates  from the surface to depths of 20-25 meters. !

Measures up to 30 centimeters diameter.

White sea fan

Eunicella singularis

Gorgonian with less ramifications than the previous species, most of which are in parallel bands. The branches are covered with small, not very prominent warts, into which the brownish polyps retract. The gorgonian is whitish in color. Grows on subhorizontal rocky bottoms with plenty of light from 10 to 50-60 meters.

Maximum size 40-50 centimeters high.

Warty sea

Eunicella verrucosa

Fan-shape gorgonian with very accentuated ramifications and rough branches, caused by the closely-set, prominent, polyps. Color varies from white to pale pink. Grows on rocky sea-beds including sedimentary ones, from 20-30 meters to 200 meters deep. 

Maximum size 40-50 centimeters high.

Berried anemone

Alicia mirabilis

Actinia with a powerful sting which changes its appearance considerably between the daytime, when it is retracted and the night when it spreads out completely and transforms itself into a disseminated colony of tubercles with a crown of translucid tentacles. Lives on rocky and sometimes sandy bottoms from 10-15meters to over 50 meters deep

Grows up to 40 centimeters high when extended.

Dead men's fingers

Cup coral

Caryophyllia smithii

Solitary hard coral with polyps protected by a cup-shape skeleton, narrowed et the base and with enlarged edges.The polyp inside can have up to 80 tentacles with enlarged points. Color varies from white to pink. Lives on rocky or detritus bottoms with little light, from 4-5 meters deep to over 500.

Maximum size 2 centimeters.

Leptosammia pruvoti

Solitary hard coral with a cylindrical calcareous skeleton, from which the big tentacles of the bright yellow polyps stick out. It is common for several specimens of this species to form groups and live so close together es to seem a colony. Lives on rocky bottoms with little light.

Maximum size 8 centimeters high.

Cladocora

Cladocora caespitosa

Colonial hard coral which forms colonies made up of the skeletons of polyps, which are similar in appearance to cylindrical little branches. The appearance of these colonies varies according to depth, going from pads close to the surface to branched forms in deep water. Brownish. Lives on hard substrates from 1-2 meters down to more than 600 meters.

Maximum size 50 centimeters diameter.

Golden Zoanthid

Parazoanthus axinellae

Colonial anthozoan consisting of elongated retractile polyps which all stert from a common encrusting base. Their are 24-36 long, slim tentacles around the mouth. Yellow. Lives on rocky bottoms and on other organisms (e.g. sponges) from depths of 5-10 meters to over 100.

Colonies can cover broad surfaces

Astroides calycularis

Colonial encrusting hard coral which forms extended pads of retractile polyps inside calcareous skeletons of varying prominence.A thermophilic species. it is more frequent in the southern egions of the Mediterranean.Red and orange. Lives cnrocky bottoms with little light from a few meters down to over 50.

Maximum size :10 centimeters.

Star coral 

Balanophyllia europaea

Solitary hard coral identifiable by its solid oval-sectioned, slightly waisted, skeleton. Whitishbrown. Lives on rocky bottoms with plenty of light, from the surface down to 40-50 meters.

Maximum size 2-3 centimeters.

False black

Gerardia savaglia

Erroneously called "Mediterranean black cor& this species has fanshaped colonies with a brown-black skeleton-The covering tissue and the polyps are yellow. Often establishes itself on gorgonians where it covers the branches. Lives on rocky bottoms deeper than 35-40 meters.

 Maximum height one meter

Phosphorescent sea pen

Pennatula phosphores
Octocoral with characteristic plume shape. Composed of a large primary polyp buried in the sediment, whose elongated, cylindrical upper part produces other lateral polyps. Greyish in color, but it is also phosphorescent. Lives on muddy bottoms from 20 to 100 meters.

 Measures up to 20 centimeters in height.

Tube dwelling anemone

Cerianthus membranaceus
Anthozoan with elongated body protected by a large tube much of which is buried in sediment. The exposed part has a double crown of long tentacles (more than 200). Color varies from purple to brown.
Lives on sandy or muddy bottoms from 5-6 meters to below 40.
Maximum size 40 centimeters.

• Algaes

• Porifera

• Crustecean

• Gorgonians

• Molluscs

• Jellyfishes

• Urchins

• Starfishes

• Worms

• Fishes