Heterogorgia uatumani Castro, 1990

Castro, C. B., Medeiros, M. S. & Loiola, L. L., 2010, Octocorallia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) from Brazilian reefs, Journal of Natural History 44 (13 - 14), pp. 763-827 : 776-779

Heterogorgia uatumani Castro, 1990

( Figures 1 , 2C,C′ , 5, 6)

Heterogorgia uatumani Castro 1990: 415–420 , figs. 4–8; Humann 1993: 80–81 (field guide); Hetzel and Castro 1994: 86–87 (photos only); Medeiros and Castro 1999: 4.

Diagnosis

Heterogorgia with polyp body below collaret lacking sclerites ( Figure 5 ); spine of projecting rods from calicular margin always thin ( Figure 6 ) ( Castro 1990: 416).

Description

For a complete description see Castro (1990: 415–420, figs. 4–8).

Material

Brazil: Espírito Santo (MNRJ 03214, 04517, 04909, 05075, 06021); Rio de Janeiro (MNRJ 00380, 00504, 00508, 00631, 01233, 01975, 01977, 02746, 02779, 03986; USNM 73432, 73569,); São Paulo (MNRJ 00507; USNM 73431), Santa Catarina (MNRJ 01459, 01460).

Comparative material

Heterogorgia papillosa Verrill 1870b – Mexico ( YPM 8609 – type specimen). Heterogorgia tortuosa Verrill 1868b – Panama ( YPM 1555 – syntypes).

Heterogorgia verrucosa Verrill 1868b – Mexico ( USNM 56566 ); Panama ( YPM 1554 – syntypes).

Type depository

Museu Nacional , Rio de Janeiro ( MNRJ 01233 ) ( Castro 1990) .

Type locality

Off Ponta Grossa do Sítio Forte , Grande Island, Angra dos Reis, RJ, Brazil (26°06.8′ S, 044°17.6′ W) ( Castro 1990) .

Geographic distribution

North-west Caribbean ( Humann 1993); Brazil: from Amapá State to Santa Catarina State ( Figure 1 ) .

Remarks

Castro (1990) provides a detailed comparison of H. uatumani and Verrill’s (1868b, 1870b) nominal species from the Pacific: H. verrucosa , H. tortuosa and H. papillosa .

Breedy and Guzman (2005) described Heterogorgia hickmani from the Galapagos Islands. The most remarkable difference between this species and H. uatumani is the conspicuously branched coenenchymal spindles, up to 0.42 mm in length, in their species, H. uatumani has smaller (up to 0.30 mm) and not such strongly branched spindles.

Figures

Figure 1. Map of distribution of reef octocorals in different regions off the Brazilian coastline. The Espírito Santo State area (*) includes the Vitória- Trindade seamount chain. “BA Sector” refer to a division of reef areas in Bahia State by Leão (1996).

Figure 2. Carijoa riisei (Duchassaing and Michelotti, 1860) (MNRJ 00153): (A) colony, (A′) branch. Neospongodes atlantica Kükenthal, 1903 (MNRJ 00335): (B) colony, (B′) branch. Heterogorgia uatumani Castro, 1990 (MNRJ 00504): (C) colony, (C′) branch. Scale bars: A–C, 2 cm;A′–C′, 5 mm.

Figure 5. Sclerites from the anthocodia of Heterogorgia uatumani Castro, 1990 (MNRJ 01233): (A) Detail of sclerites arrangement; (B) extended polyp.

Figure 6. Sclerites of Heterogorgia uatumani Castro, 1990 (MNRJ 00507): (A) anthocodia; (B) wall of coenenchymal mound; (C) margin of coenenchymal mound; (D) outer layer of coenenchyme; (E) axial sheath.