Sea pansies are dotting the Padre Island shoreline, especially at the Padre Island National Seashore. The tiny flower-shaped organisms are not flowers at all, but a type of coral common in warm Atlantic waters.
Also related to jelly fish, sea pansies anchor in the sand in shallow waters forming colonies that pulse when threatened by star fish or other predators. Their stalks are studded with brilliant white polyps that give off a bioluminescent glow as the creatures inflate and deflate rapidly to scare off threats.
The leaf shaped bodies are made up of polyps that gather food, sending nourishment to a common digestive system that feeds the entire colony.
Maximum size for each organism is about 2 inches across. The ones washing up in the Coastal Bend region are about the size of a fingernail.
