Identification Photos: Orange Spiny Sea Rod, Muricea elongata: The Orange Spiny Sea Rod is a soft coral that lacks a hard, rigid, permanent skeleton.

The Orange Spiny Sea Rod is a member of the Plexauridae Family, which includes feather plums, sea fans, sea rods, and sea whips.

They form tall bushy colonies that reach 18 inches in height, with hard, rough, spiked edges.

The stems and branches have a single skeleton that attaches to the substrate via a single holdfast.

They branch laterally near the base, not in single planes, but toward the top branch pinnately.

They have prominent, hard, rough, close-set calyces with sharply spiked lower lips. The branches are yellow, yellow-brown, orange, or amber, and the polyps are white.

They are normally found in the first 100 feet of the water column, from sandy bottoms to sloping rocky structures.

Their distribution within Mexican waters is unknown and from a scientific perspective little is known about this soft coral.

Orange Spiny Sea Rod, Muricea elongata: Collected while bottom fishing. Caught with Captain Pata in the panga Salomé, at La Playita, San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico, in 100-foot deep, 73-degree water, in March 2004, on a traditional yo-yo iron, 25 miles north of La Playita. Size approximately 12 inches. Disclaimer: This identification should be considered tentative due to the very remote location of the collection (Latitude 23 degrees 1 minute North and Longitude 109 degrees 3 minutes West) and the water depth cited. We believe there has been very little scientific focus on this area of the world and therefore supporting scientific documentation is not available. We welcome additional information on this coral from anyone who cares to contact us.