Sea Fan Coral, Based

Delicate golden tree, all twig and lace, rooted in a metal cube.

This is a gorgonian sea fan coral on a base. It is gorgonia coral. Sea fans are colonial marine animals called gorgonians, which grow a flexible branching skeleton in a flat fan shape, usually oriented across the current. Fan-shaped branching form with thin, intertwined orange-gold branches fills the upper two thirds, with darker grey tones near the core. The stem is short and twisted, and it stands in a small square metal block. It is 14 inches wide, 3 deep and 18 high.

A whole forest of ambitions in an area the size of a hat.