Plumapathes pennacea is a feather-like black coral (order Antipatharia, family Antipathidae) found in deep-water environments of the Caribbean Sea and western Atlantic, forming characteristic pinnate (feather-shaped) colonies with alternating lateral branches arising from a central axis. Like other antipatharians, it has a proteinaceous skeletal axis covered in microscopic spines and can be very long-lived, with some colonies estimated at thousands of years. Black corals are protected under CITES due to their historical overexploitation for jewelry. Genomic data have been generated for this species and are available in public databases, enabling comparative studies of cnidarian evolution and ecology.