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Paramuricea clavata, the violescent sea-whip, is a species of colonial soft coral in the family Plexauridae. It is found in shallow seas of the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean and the north-western Mediterranean Sea as well as Ionian Sea. This species was first described by the French naturalist Antoine Risso in 1826.
mediterranean coral reef barriera corallina mediterranea Savalia savaglia and Paramuricea clavata gold coral and violescent sea-whip www.intotheblue.it
Description
It looks like a treelike formation with dense ramifications of dark red color, which fans form that can reach sizes of up to a meter in height. The terminal branches, claviform, are sometimes of yellow color. The skeleton is protein; the surface presents calcareous spicules that serve as shelter for polyps, retractable.
The colonies have the appearance of a real submerged wood, between the branches of which develops a remarkable biodiversity, it consists of every sort fish and invertebrates. Gorgonia Rossa Paramuricea Clavata Red Gorgonia cnidari cnidarian
Gorgonia Rossa intotheblue.it
Distribution and habitat
It is a typical species of the Mediterranean Sea where populates rocky bottoms usually deep from 25-30 to over 100 meters, placing the emphasis on little crevices reached by the light. It is in fact a kind sciaphilous, that lover of twilight.
Gorgonia rossa, Paramuricea clavata, Violescent sea-whip. Dive with Paramuricea clavata. intotheblue.it
Storage
In the past colonies of red gorgonian we were very numerous, today we are witnessing a decline them throughout the Mediterranean, especially in surface water as a result of warming waters. Other factors that threaten its survival are indiscriminate harvesting by divers, and the damage inflicted by trawling. It is a species very fragile and very slow growth. By virtue of these characteristics is considered a biological indicator of the marine ecosystem balance.
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