14 Apr 2023

Critter of the Week: 'The Dentures of the Sea'

From the collecton Critter of the Week

This week's critter was dubbed ‘the dentures of the sea’ by the NIWA scientists who discovered it lurking on the ocean floor off the Bay of Islands back in 2009.

It might look like your grandma’s unbrushed dentures but it’s actually a species of solitary stony coral in the genus Flabellum.

Flabellum (the dentures of the sea)

Flabellum (the dentures of the sea) Photo: supplied