sea fan

American

noun

any of certain anthozoans, especially Gorgonia flabellum, of the West Indies, in which the colony assumes a fanlike form.

sea fan British

noun

any of various corals of the genus Gorgonia and related genera, having a treelike or fan-shaped horny skeleton: order Gorgonacea (gorgonians)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of sea fan

First recorded in 1625–35

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Bright sunlight filtered through the turquoise water, and a sea fan swayed in the current.

From Washington Post • Jun. 24, 2021

For example, scientists are studying the purple sea fan, a type of coral, to discover how it fights pathogens and how it repairs injured tissue.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2016

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023