Yellow Gorgonian

Photo: Kaila Wheatley Kornblum · CC BY-NC

The current-swept walls of La Polacra support exceptional colonies of yellow gorgonian that grow to widths exceeding 80 centimetres on the most exposed faces, oriented precisely perpendicular to the dominant current to maximise plankton capture. These colonies are among the largest recorded in Almería province and represent several decades of uninterrupted growth made possible by the park's protection. Tiny Magellanic goby individuals shelter within the colony structure, and egg masses of the aeolid nudibranch Flabellina ischitana are regularly found at the base of heavily colonised branches from February through April.