Admin Meerwasser-Lexikon
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Thesea hebes is a small white sea fan that can reach a height of 6-20 cm.
The branches are typically 3 mm thick, with low conical calyxes that become denser at the edges.
The tissue of the can take on a gray coloration, but the colonies are usually white.
The sclerites are exclusively white and consist of loosely seated plates in the outer coenenchyma.
Currently, the best available description and key to the genus Thesea is that of Deichmann (1936), which relies heavily on color.
There are several species of Thesea that are white. Of these, Thesea hebes is easily distinguished from most others by its colony form.
Confusion:
Thesea hebes could possibly be confused in situ with Thesea parviflora.
The most reliable means of distinguishing between these two species is the grey color of the coenechyma and the arrangement of the polyps at the margins to sufficiently differentiate the two species.
The branches are typically 3 mm thick, with low conical calyxes that become denser at the edges.
The tissue of the can take on a gray coloration, but the colonies are usually white.
The sclerites are exclusively white and consist of loosely seated plates in the outer coenenchyma.
Currently, the best available description and key to the genus Thesea is that of Deichmann (1936), which relies heavily on color.
There are several species of Thesea that are white. Of these, Thesea hebes is easily distinguished from most others by its colony form.
Confusion:
Thesea hebes could possibly be confused in situ with Thesea parviflora.
The most reliable means of distinguishing between these two species is the grey color of the coenechyma and the arrangement of the polyps at the margins to sufficiently differentiate the two species.
