3/C – Red dead men's fingers - Alcyonium palmatum

Colonial invertebrate without skeleton, the structure of its body is essentially composed of calcareous spicules. It is supported by the water, which is used for swelling and rising from the bed it is anchored to. The body has a base, which anchors it to the substratum, without polyps and therefore has a sterile stem zone (white colored) and a top with a number of appendixes varying from five to seven. It lives on sandy and muddy beds at depths ranging from 20 to 200 meters.