{{Short description|Family of corals}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Paramuricea_clavata_(Risso,_1826)_3.jpg | image_caption = ''Paramuricea clavata'' with polyps extended | taxon = Plexauridae | authority = Gray, 1859<ref name=WoRMS>{{cite WoRMS |author=van Ofwegen, Leen |year=2012 |title=Plexauridae |id=196095 |accessdate=2012-12-19}}</ref> | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = {{center|See text}} }}
'''Plexauridae''' is a family of marine colonial octocorals in the phylum Cnidaria. Members of this family are found in shallow tropical and subtropical seas. Many species contain symbiotic photosynthetic protists called zooxanthellae.
==Characteristics== The Plexauridae have a branching colony form and many are known as sea rods or sea fans. The axial core of the coral skeleton is horny and hollow, and contains no sclerites. This is covered by a layer of tissue called coenenchyme in which is embedded calcareous sclerites. The sclerites are very varied in form in the Plexauridae, and examination of their morphology is helpful in identifying the different species. The calyces in which the polyps sit are strengthened by further sclerites and have eight fine dividing walls called septa. The polyps each have eight pinnate tentacles. <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/sertc/octocoral%20guide/Plexauridae_key1_new.htm |title=Family Plexauridae |author=S. T. DeVictor & S. L. Morton |date=2007 |work=Guide to the Shallow Water Octocorals of the South Atlantic Bight |publisher= |accessdate=2012-12-19}}</ref>
==Genera==
The World Register of Marine Species includes these genera in this family:<ref name=WoRMS-fam> {{cite taxon|WoRMS|title=Plexauridae Gray, 1859 |id=125277|db=octocorallia|access-date=6 September 2025}} </ref>
*''Eunicea''<small> Lamouroux, 1816</small> *''Muricea''<small> Lamouroux, 1821</small> *''Plexaura''<small> Lamouroux, 1821</small> *''Pseudoplexaura''<small> Wright & Studer, 1889</small> *''Swiftia''<small> Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864</small>
Before a 2022 taxonomic revision of the Octocorallia,<ref name=McFadden-2022 >{{cite journal |last1=McFadden |first1=Catherine S. |last2=Van Ofwegen |first2=Leen P. |last3=Quattrini |first3=Andrea M. |title=Revisionary systematics of Octocorallia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) guided by phylogenomics |journal=Bulletin of the Society of Systematic Biologists |date=2022 |volume=1 |issue=3 |doi=10.18061/bssb.v1i3.8735 |doi-access=free }}</ref> the family also contained the following genera:<ref name=WoRMS-2018>{{Cite web|url=http://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=125277|title=WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Plexauridae Gray, 1859|website=marinespecies.org|language=en|access-date=2018-03-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180331105238/https://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=125277 |archive-date=31 March 2018 |url-status=deviated }}</ref> {{div col|colwidth=30em}} *''Acanthacis''<small> Deichmann, 1936</small> (moved to Acanthogorgiidae) *''Acanthomuricea''<small> Hentschel, 1903</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Acis''<small> Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1860</small> *''Alaskagorgia''<small> Sánchez & Cairns, 2004</small>{{efn|name=is|Genera left family ''incertae sedis'' due to insufficient molecular or morphological evidence.<ref name=McFadden-2022 /> }} *''Anthomuricea''<small> Studer, 1887</small> (moved to Acanthogorgiidae) *''Anthoplexaura''<small> Kükenthal, 1908</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Astrogorgia''<small> Verrill, 1868</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Astromuricea''<small> Germanos, 1895</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Bayergorgia''<small> Williams & Lopez-Gonzalez, 2005</small>{{efn|name=is}} *''Bebryce''<small> Philippi, 1841</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Chromoplexaura''<small> Williams, 2013</small> (moved to Gorgoniidae) *''Cryogorgia''<small> Williams, 2005</small>{{efn|name=is}} *''Dentomuricea''<small> Grasshoff, 1977</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Discogorgia''<small> Kükenthal, 1919</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Echinogorgia''<small> Kölliker, 1865</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Echinomuricea''<small> Verrill, 1869</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Elasmogorgia''<small> Wright & Studer, 1889</small>{{efn|name=is}} *''Euplexaura''<small> Verrill, 1869</small> (moved to Euplexauridae) *''Heterogorgia''<small> Verrill, 1868</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Hypnogorgia''<small> Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864</small>{{efn|name=is}} *''Lapidogorgia''<small> Grasshoff, 1999</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Lepidomuricea''<small> Kükenthal, 1919</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Lytreia''<small> Bayer, 1981</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Menacella''<small> Gray, 1870</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Menella''<small> Gray, 1870</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Mesogligorgia''<small> Lopez-Gonzalez, 2007</small>{{efn|name=is}} *''Muriceides''<small> Wright & Studer, 1889</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Muriceopsis''<small> Aurivillius, 1931</small> *''Paracis''<small> Kükenthal, 1919</small> *''Paramuricea''<small> Koelliker, 1865</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Paraplexaura''<small> Kükenthal, 1909</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Placogorgia''<small> Wright & Studer, 1889</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Plexaurella''<small> Kölliker, 1865</small> *''Plexauroides''<small> Wright & Studer</small> *''Plexauropsis''<small> Verrill</small> (included in ''Plexaura'') *''Psammogorgia''<small> Verrill, 1868</small> (moved to Gorgoniidae) *''Pseudothesea''<small> Kükenthal, 1919</small>{{efn|name=is}} *''Scleracis''<small> Kükenthal, 1919</small> *''Spinimuricea''<small> Grasshoff, 1992</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Thesea''<small> Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1860</small>{{efn|name=is}} *''Trimuricea''<small> Gordon, 1926</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) *''Villogorgia''<small> Duchassaing & Michelloti, 1862</small> (moved to Astrogorgiidae) {{div col end}} {{notelist}} [[File:Eunicea mammosa2.jpg|thumb|''Eunicea mammosa'']] [[File:Bebryce sulfurea.jpg|thumb|''Bebryce sulfurea'']]
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2099439}}
Category:Plexauridae Category:Holaxonia Category:Cnidaria families