- · Grid units represent actual meters (m); human and animals are drawn to the exact same scale with original silhouette aspect ratios preserved.
- · When a size range is recorded (e.g. 1–1.6m), the lower bound is used for scale comparison.
- · Echinogorgia complexa silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0 (Acanthogorgia aspera)
- · Human silhouette: PhyloPic — NASA · Public Domain Mark 1.0
Echinogorgia complexa
Echinogorgia complexa (Echinogorgia complexa · Echinogorgia complexa)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
🇰🇷 Class II endangered wildlife (Korea)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A colony height of about 11 cm is a little over half the short side of an A4 sheet of paper (21 cm) (Comparison).
- 💡 Careless contact during underwater leisure activities in Seogwipo waters is cited as a threat factor (National Institute of Ecology).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
Echinogorgia complexa is a dark red fan-shaped coral living attached to bedrock at depths of 10–40 m off Seogwipo, Jeju Island, and is designated as Class II endangered wildlife (Korea).
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its colony is fan-shaped, about 11 cm tall and 8.5 cm wide, dark red overall with white polyps, and its branches are straight and do not fuse together.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It captures small plankton using venomous nematocysts, and bryozoans and polychaete worms sometimes live attached to its colony.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
Designated as Class II endangered wildlife (Korea), it is distributed in the waters off Jeju Island (Seogwipo), where rising water temperatures, marine pollution, and careless underwater leisure activities are major threats.
📚 Sources & References
- • 멸종위기 야생생물 Ⅱ급 — 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000163261 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000163261
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • Korean protection status: Class II endangered wildlife (Korea)
- • marinespecies.org — aphia.php
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000163261 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000163261
- • wikidata.org — Q3275212
- • nie.re.kr — view.do
- • nie.re.kr — list.do
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Acanthogorgia aspera)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.