Vardhan Patankar
( Paramuricea sp. )
Found in warm shallow waters between 0-45 m.
Stemming their name from their shape that resembles that of a fan, these species of corals is a colonial coral with several branches and smaller branches that link them. The sea fans are filter feeders and hence are usually found in areas where water flow is quite high so that they are able to filter out organic matter, mainly plankton from the water by using their tentacles. Colonies of sea fans are quite flat, they can be several meteres tall or wide however, being only a few inches thick.
They feed by using their polyps to catch suspended planktonic particles in the water column, hence they are usually found in areas where the water is high so that they can catch these particles with their branches.