Pink Sea Fingers

About

Pink Sea Fingers (Alcyonium hibernicum) is a soft coral native to the cool northeastern Atlantic, found in waters around the Isle of Man, Ireland, and the French coast. In the wild it colonizes rocky substrates in relatively shallow temperate seas, forming chunky, finger-like lobes in shades of pink and pale orange. Each lobe is studded with small polyps that extend to feed, giving the colony a fuzzy, almost feathered texture when fully open. Because this species comes from cold-water environments, it is far more commonly encountered by divers than by reef keepers, and dedicated temperate marine aquariums are really where it belongs. That said, for hobbyists running a cool or cold-water system, it is considered one of the more accessible soft corals to keep, with no extraordinary demands around lighting or flow beyond moderate levels of each. It does not rely on zooxanthellae the way tropical reef corals do, so supplemental feeding with fine particulate foods is important to long-term success. If you are maintaining a northeastern Atlantic biotope or a temperate species display, Pink Sea Fingers is a genuinely interesting and characterful addition that rarely turns up in the mainstream hobby.