Sea Plume in Cozumel

Tall feathery three-dimensional plumes in purple-grey or tan, bending and recovering in the current. Soft and flexible, unlike the stiff sea rods beside them.

Quick ID

Where You Will See It In Cozumel

Sea Plume works the 9 to 82 foot band. On this island that means the sheltered west-coast reefs, and the shallow east-side entries when the sea is flat — these are the sites where the depth and the habitat line up for it.

Without a boat. It is worth looking for at Money Bar, Playa Corona and Punta Morena — all shore entries, so you dive them on your own schedule.

On an ordinary beginner boat dive. It should be within reach at Casa Blanca, Chankanaab Bolones, Columbia Shallows, El Cielo and La Francesa. No advanced certification needed.

Deeper, and on the walls. It is also plausible on C-53 Wreck, Cantarel (Eagle Ray Wall), Chun-Chacaab and Colombia Deep.

Conditions change the odds more than the site does — the current, the time of day and how much the group has already stirred up the sand. Ask your guide what they have been seeing that week.

Behaviour

A colonial soft coral feeding on plankton. The constant motion of a Cozumel reef top in current is mostly this animal, and it shelters juvenile fish and brittle stars.

Commonly Confused With

• Sea fan — A flat mesh in one plane, not a feathery three-dimensional plume.
• Sea rod — Thick, stiff rods rather than fine feathery branches.

Diving Etiquette And Safety

Do not grab a plume to stop yourself in current. It is an animal, and it is the handhold divers reach for most.

Part of the Cozumel marine life guide · see Cozumel dive sites · plan your Cozumel dive trip

Photo: James St. John, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.