Key: Subclass Alcyonaria (Octocorallia)
Phylum Cnidaria
Class Anthozoa
Taken primarily from Kozloff,
1987, 1996 (Copyright
1987, 1996, University of
Washington Press. Used in this web page by permission of University
of Washington Press)
| 1a |
Colony encrusting, the polyps
arising singly from creeping stolons |
Order Alcyonacea,
Suborder Stolonifera |
| 1b |
Colony a fleshy mass in which several to many polyps
are embedded, or irregularly branched or featherlike |
2 |
| 2a |
Colony a fleshy mass in which several to many polyps
are embedded |
Order Alcyonacea,
Suborder Alcyoniina |
| 2b |
Colony irregularly branched or featherlike |
3 |
| 3a |
Gorgonians--colony irregularly branched, attached to a
hard substratum;
branches with an internal core of hard material |
Order Alcyonacea,
Suborders Holaxonia and Scleraxonia |
| 3b |
Sea pens--colony featherlike; the lower portion swollen
and anchoring
the colony in mud or sand; rachis
of the colony with a hard internal rod, but branches without comparable
supporting structures |
Order
Pennatulacea |
Taxonomic
Levels Represented
in This Key:
Order
Pennatulacea
Page created by Dave Cowles, 2005
Edited by:
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