Sea Pen
Sea pens are colonial marine cnidarians belonging to the order Pennatulacea. There are 16 families within the order; they are thought to have a cosmopolitan distribution in tropical and temperate waters worldwide. Sea pens are grouped with the octocorals ("soft corals"), together with sea whips and gorgonians.
Although named after their feather-like appearance reminiscent of antique quill pens, only sea pen species belonging to the suborder Subselliflorae live up to the comparison. Those belonging to the much larger suborder Sessiliflorae lack feathery structures and grow in club-like or radiating forms. The latter suborder includes what are commonly known as sea pansies.
The sea pen fossil record is patchy and disputed by some; while the earliest accepted fossils are known from the Cambrian-aged Burgess Shale (Thaumaptilon), similar fossils from the Ediacaran (ala Charnia) may represent the dawn of sea pens. Precisely what these early fossils are, however, is not decided.
Read more about Sea Pen: Biology, Aquarium Trade, Gallery
Famous quotes containing the words sea and/or pen:
“The sea curling,
Star-climbed, wind-combed, cumbered with itself still
As at first it was, is the hand no yet contented
Of the Creator. And he waits for the world to begin.”
—William Stanley Merwin (b. 1927)
“Its whether will ye be a rank robber’s wife,
Or will ye die by my wee pen knife?
Its I’ll not be a rank robber’s wife,
But I’ll rather die by your wee pen knife.
He ‘s killed this may and he ‘s laid her by,
For to bear the red rose company.”
—Unknown. Babylon; or, The Bonnie Banks o’ Fordie (l. 9–14)