It is native to the northeastern Pacific Ocean where it lives in deep water anchored by its base in sand or mud.

One, the primary polyp, loses its tentacles and forms both the stalk of the colony (known as the rachis), and the bulbous base with which it anchors itself deep into the soft substrate.

[2][3] The orange sea pen is found on the western coast of North America, its range extending from Alaska to southern California.

[3] Breeding takes place when eggs and sperm are produced by the autozooids and expelled through the mouth into the water column.

It can distinguish between the threats posed by the specialist predator leather star (Dermasterias imbricata), the generalist predator sunflower seastar (Pycnopodia helianthoides) and the ochre sea star (Pisaster ochraceus), which does not feed on sea pens.