74 ANIMALS OF THE SEASHORE 



Leptcgorgia virgulata Lamarck 



(Sea Tree, Gorgonid) 



plate v. 



This is the only member of the order Gorgonacea 

 found in New Jersey waters. The group is more 

 typical of tropical waters. This species is a tree- 

 like form with a horny skeleton which forms a 

 branched axis, covered with a layer of polyps and 

 having- spicules of lime distributed through the mass 

 giving some firmness to the bark-like covering. 



Sea Trees vary in color from yellow to orange 

 and red. They appear to be very abundant at "Old 

 Grounds" some thirty miles south of Cape May and 

 fourteen miles east of Indian River, Delaware. The 

 floor of the ocean is rocky here, thereby affording a 

 foothold for these "trees." "Old Grounds" is well 

 known for its good fishing and many of the party 

 boats from Cape May and elsewhere make a daily 

 visit to the spot. Fishermen often bring up one of 

 these trees on their lines and marvel at its beauty. 

 Within the past few years there have been a number 

 of newspaper accounts describing this new form of 

 "plant life" discovered by a fisherman. It is, of 

 course, an animal — or more accurately, a group of 

 animals — related to the corals and Sea Fans. 



It has also been found in Long Island Sound, 

 Delaware Bay, off Hereford Inlet, New Jersey, in 

 Chesapeake Bay, near Beaufort, North Carolina, and 

 elsewhere along the southern coast. 



