Multicoloured sea fan
species of cnidarian
The multicoloured sea fan (Melithaea rubra) is a species of gorgonian sea fan in the family Melithaeidae.
Description
The sea fan colony grows up to about 30 cm high, with branches of between 2 and 4 mm. It is bushy with thin cylindrical branches which are often tangled or joined. The polyps emerge from knobs on the surface of the colony. It is variably coloured, with the colony being red, yellow, white or pink, and the individual polyps being white, yellow or red.
Distribution
This sea fan is found only around the South African coast from Bloubergstrand to East London in 10–30 m of water. It is endemic to this region.
Ecology
These sea fans are found on vertical surfaces on reefs and under overhangs, usually orientated perpendicularly to the water flow. It may grow in assemblages with sponges, bryozoans or tunicates. It is preyed upon by the coral nudibranch, Phyllodesmium horridum, as well as the walking anemone, Preactis millardae.
“Multicoloured sea fan” enters the record as species of cnidarian. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Multicoloured, species and cnidarian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1955532. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Multicoloured sea fan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.