Dead man's fingers
Dense bed of Alcyonium digitatum.
Image width ca 75 cm in foreground.
Image: Sue Scott
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Alcyonium digitatum Dead man's fingers |
Dense bed of Alcyonium digitatum. Image width ca 75 cm in foreground. Image: Sue Scott |
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Phylum | Cnidaria |
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Class | Octocorallia |
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Habitat Information |
| Attached to rocks, shells and stones where the otherwise dominant algae are inhibited by a lack of light and occasionally on living crabs and gastropods. Generally found in situations where strong water movement prevails. Occasionally on the lower shore but more common sublittorally, down to about 50 m. |
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Species description |
| Mature colonies form thick, fleshy masses of irregular shape, typically of stout, finger-like lobes that usually exceed 20 mm in diameter. Young, developing colonies form encrustations about 5 -10mm thick. The height and breadth of colonies are up to 200 mm. Colonies are white or orange in colour, but may appear reddish or brownish during periods of inactivity when the polyps are withdrawn into the colony, owing to the development of a film of epibiota. |
| PMF archive information |
| Unavailable |
| Species name is listed in the PMF at the following locations: |
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>Eddystone (inner) Channel Grounds Eddystone (outer) Channel Grounds Hoe Foreshore Mewstone Area Millbay Channel Tinside |
Links to the MarLIN Biology and Sensitivity Key-information pages | |||||
| Taxonomy & Identification |
General Biology | Habitat Preference & Distribution | Sensitivity & Recoverability | Importance | |