The Rockpens - Sea Pens That Attach To Rocky Surfaces

Rockpens - Hawai'i, 411-432 m in depth (Images courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2015 Hohonu Moana: Exploring Deep Waters off Hawai'i)

Rockpens - (Left) Marianas, 1873 m in depth (Image courtesey of the NOAA Office of Exploration and Research, 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas); (Right) Modification of the peduncle in rockpens for attachment to hard substrata (Image adapted from photograph, courtesy of J. Sandoval, Ocean Exploration Trust).

* * * * * * * * * * *

[See: Williams, G.C. and P. Alderslade. 2011. Three new species of pennatulacean octocorals with the ability to attach to rocky substrata (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Pennatulacea). Zootaxa 3001: 33-48]

Rockpens are known from 368-1969 m in depth - in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans.