Maldives Marine Life

Marine life of Maldivian waters

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Gorgonian fan
No photo available
Photo: Quality image This image has been assessed using the Quality image guidelines and is considered a Quality image. / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (view on Wikimedia Commons)Coral photo: species not verifiable from image.

Gorgonian fan

Annella mollis

Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 520669, checked 2026-10-31).

English
Gorgonian fan
Scientific
Annella mollis
Dhivehi
No recorded Dhivehi name
Group
Soft corals and sea fans
Family
Subergorgiidae (sea fans)
Depth and habitat
Reef-associated, recorded from 12 to 18 m
IUCN status
NE · Not EvaluatedNot Evaluated (NE)

Description

A giant sea fan: a large, flat, net-like fan with fine branches fused into a mesh, often well over 1 m across. It is usually red-brown, orange or yellow. Fans grow at right angles to the current on outer reef slopes, walls and channel edges, where they strain plankton from the water. Pygmy seahorses and other small animals live on some colonies.

In the Maldives

Recorded from the Maldives: museum specimens (n=1, CAS); iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=38).

Sources

Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.