Plexaurella nutans, the giant slit-pore sea rod, is a tall species of soft coral in the family Plexauridae.

The polyps are rather large and protrude from round, oval or slit-shaped grooves in the cup-shaped calyces in the coral skeleton.

[2] Plexaurella nutans is an uncommon species and occurs at depths down to 50 metres (160 ft) in the Caribbean Sea, the Bahamas and Florida.

[3][4] The polyps of Plexaurella nutans extend their tentacles to feed on zooplankton and other small invertebrates floating past.

[5] Plexaurella nutans is a zooxanthellate species of coral with large numbers of symbiotic dinoflagellates from the genus Symbiodinium living in its tissues.