Red Sea Fan, Gorgonia adamsi

Red Sea Fan, Gorgonia adamsi. Sea fan collected in the greater Cabo San Lucas area, Baja California Sur.  A fairly common by-catch of a bottom fisherman.

Red Sea Fan, Gorgonia adamsi. Underwater photographs taken in the greater Cabo San Lucas area, Baja California Sur, March 2018. Photographs courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.

The Red Sea Fan, Gorgia adamsi, is an octocoral and a member of the Gorgoniidae Family of Gorgonians, that is known in Mexico as ventilador de mar. Members of the Gorgia Genus are common but reside only in the waters of the Pacific with multiple hot spots off the coast of Ecuador and Panama. The Gorgia corals have 1 or 2 fan-shaped planes with a mesh-like structure of variable size. They can be brown, red, purple or yellow in color and can grow to 76 cm (2 feet 6 inches) in height. They are found attached to offshore reefs and rocks at depths up to 35 m (115 feet). They are poorly studied and very little is known about their behavioral patterns.

The Red Sea Fan has a red coloration with a fan shaped plane with mesh-like construction that has spaces that are about twice as wide as the branches. They can reach 30 cm (12 inches) in height.

In Mexican waters the Red Sea Fan is found throughout the Sea of Cortez and along the coast of the mainland south Guatemala.