Image from GBIF · CC BY-NC-ND
Species
dead man's fingers
SPECIES
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumCnidaria
- ClassAnthozoa
- OrderMalacalcyonacea
- FamilyAlcyoniidae
Habitatmarine
Observations recorded48,870
The dead man's finger is a soft coral, just as hard as cartilage. The branches are totally covered with small polyps. The polyps themselves have eight tentacles, but they are only visible with a very good magnifying glass. The polyps are readily frightened. If you were to brush against a dead man's finger, the polyps retract quickly into the coral skeleton. They only dare to come back out after several hours. If you don't see the polyps, the coral structure looks like a leathery finger.
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 295
- With media
- 18
- Family
- Alcyoniidae
- Collections
- RBINS-SCIENTIFIC HERITAGE, NHMUK, USNM
- Recorded in
- Belgium, United Kingdom, United States
Wikidata facts
Show 5 more facts
- taxon name
- Alcyonium digitatum
- Commons category
- Alcyonium digitatum
- taxon rank
- species
- taxon common name
- dødmannshånd
- short name
- A. digitatum
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0