Coe. 1 / Coe. 3 Virgularia

            Kingdom         - Animalia

            Phylum            - Cnidaria

            Class                - Anthozoa

            Order               - Scleralcyonacea

            Family             - Virgulariidae

            Genus              - Virgularia

 Common name: Slender sea pen

 Characters:

            Colony resembles narrow feather. 15-20cm long, slender, stiff 'stem' - the central primary polyp. With short thin leaf-like structures (1-2cm) that have no spikes on the edges. The leaves are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the 'stem',. Tiny feeding polyps (autozooids) with 8 branched tentacles emerge from these leaf-like structures when submerged. The autozooids are tubular and fused to adjacent autozooids for most of their length. When the polyps are contracted, they form little round bumps. The colony also has another kind of polyp that sucks in water (siphonozooids). These are found on the 'stem' between the leaves. The other end of the 'stem' is a bulbous foot that is buried in the sand.

            When exposed at low tide, the leaf-like structures are collapsed, while the stiff remains upright. So the colony looks like a thin 'satay stick' stuck in the ground. Sometimes, the central stalk is retracted into the ground, resulting in a ruffle of secondary polyps left peeping out at the surface. Often the stiff stick-like supporting axis may stick out of the fleshier 'stem'. The 'stem' usually can only be seen on one side of the animal. On the other side, the leaf-like structures obscure the 'stem'.

Colour: Colours seen include red, maroon, orange, purple and white.

Habitat

            Virgularia lives in fine sediments (muddy sand to soft mud). The species is found in sheltered inshore waters, or in deeper water offshore, from 12 - 400 m depth. The species is often very abundant in sea lochs or man-made harbours.