A soft coral in the order Pennatulacea and subclass Alcyonaria. A sea pansy is a colony of polyps having different forms and functions. A single, leaf-like, giant primary polyp up to two inches in diameter forms the anchoring stem (peduncle). This peduncle can be distended to better anchor the colony in the substrate.The primary polyp possesses secondary polyps, autozooids (feeding polyps) and siphonozooids (serve as intakes for water, which circulates within the colony and helps keep it upright) on the upper surface.The sea pansy is bioluminescent when disturbed, due to Green Fluorescent Protein.