Yellow Gorgonian, Leptogorgia ampla

Yellow Gorgonian, Leptogorgia ampla. Underwater photographs taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, November 2019. Photographs courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.

The Yellow Gorgonian, Leptogorgia almpla, is an octocoral and a member of the Gorgoniidae Family of Gorgonians, that is known in Mexico as abanico de mar amarillo . The Genus Leptogorgia, is a large Genus with more than one hundred fourteen currently known individual species.

The Yellow Gorgonian are yellow in color and exists as a single plane with relatively large mesh that varies in shape with free-flowing branches. The branches are known to interweave with neighboring Sea Fans. They reach 90 cm (35 inches) in length and are found attached to hard surfaces including coral, rocks and wreckage at depths between 5 m (15 feet) and 30 m (100 feet). Reproduction is gonochoric or hermaphroditic with mature gametes being shed into the coelenteron and spawned through the mouth. The zygote develop into planktonic planula larva and metamorphosis begins with early morphogenesis of tentacles, septa, and pharyns before larval settlement on the aboral end.

The Yellow Gorgonian is found throughout the Sea of Cortez and range as far south as Peru.

A synonym is Eugorgia ampla.