Telesto fruticulosa Dana, 1846

Devictor, Susan T. & Morton, Steve L., 2010, Identification guide to the shallow water (0 - 200 m) octocorals of the South Atlantic Bight 2599, Zootaxa 2599 (1), pp. 1-62 : 25-27

Telesto fruticulosa Dana, 1846

( Figure 25 )

Telesto fruticulosa Dana, 1846:632 .— Laackmann 1909:74; Plate 8 fig. 32; text fig. B.— Deichmann 1936: 43; Plate 2 figs. 20–22.— Bayer 1961:46; Figs. 7 , 9c .— Cairns et al. 2002:33.

Material examined. SERTC S1743 , 13.7 m, off Charleston, South Carolina, May 13, 2003 ; SERTC S2486 , 21.6 m, off St. Catherine’s Island , Georgia, June 3, 2004 . SERTC S1744 , 12.4 m, off Charleston, South Carolina, April 21, 2004 . SERTC S 2688, 7 m, off Debidue Island , South Carolina, November 8, 2002 . SERTC S2691 , 21.4 m, off Charleston, South Carolina, August 15, 2006 . SERTC S2687 , 19.5 m, Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary, off Savannah , Georgia, May 31, 2006 . SERTC S 2690, 24 m, off Charleston , SC, August 15, 2006 .

Remarks. Telesto fruticulosa colonies are monopodially branched and usually found in colonies of multiple branches. The daughter polyps sometimes develop into tertiary branches. The color of the coenenchyme may be orange, light red, or yellow, but may be obscured or completely encrusted by fouling organisms such as sponges and bryozoans. One encrusting sponge produced a thin veneer that was observed to be the bright red of Telesto sanguinea , a species closely resembling T. fruticulosa , such that the true color of the colony was completely obscured until preserved in ethanol. As is typical of the members of this genus in the Atlantic, there are eight longitudinal grooves present in the body wall of the primary polyps, but they are sometimes more distinct near the calyces or the base of the colony. There is a dense cluster of vertically oriented, overlapping flat rods in the base and proximal half of the polyp tentacles.

This species can be distinguished from T. sanguinea by the absence of dense rows of horizontally oriented flat rods in the distal region of the tentacles. If horizontal rods are present in the distal region they are sparse and do not reach the tip of the tentacles. The coenenchymal sclerites consist of glassy, blunt, branching bodies and some small (0.2 mm) granules that are opaque and lumpy on one side and coarsely warty and glassy on the other. Occasionally weak fusion of the sclerites is observed.

T. fruticulosa is a very common species in hardbottom habitats within the SAB. The polyps are usually expanded during the day but, unless relaxed prior to preservation, retreat into the cylindrical calyces when exposed to preservatives or disturbance.There are numerous lots of specimens of this species in the collections of the NMNH (Smithsonian) that were collected from the shallow SAB.

Atlantic distribution: Coasts of the North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and northern Florida, 7–100

m ( Deichmann 1936; Bayer 1961; NMNH collections; SERTC collection).

Figures

FIGURE 7. A, Transverse and B, longitudinal cross-sections of scleraxonian octocoral axis (Diodogorgia nodulifera), showing inner cortex (In. cor.), outer cortex (Ou. cor.), spiculated medulla (Me), polyps (Pol), and ring of boundary canals (Bo. ca.).

FIGURE 9. a) Pseudodrifa nigra, basal disc indicated; b) holdfast of Muricea pendula; c) encrusting colony of Scleranthelia rugosa (from Bayer 1981a).

FIGURE 25. Telesto fruticulosa: A, sclerites (S2690): a, b) fused sclerites from coenenchyme; c–e) sclerites from coenenchyme; f, g) anthocodial sclerites; (scale bar for a–e = 0.05 mm; f, g = 0.02 mm); B, polyp (live specimen), arrow indicating anthocodial rods in basal region of rachis; C, preserved colony (approximately 12 cm in height).