Sinularia sp. indet.

Fassbender, Nico, Stefanoudis, Paris V, Filander, Zoleka Nontlantla, Gendron, Gilberte, Mah, Christopher L, Mattio, Lydiane, Mortimer, Jeanne A, Moura, Carlos J, Samaai, Toufiek, Samimi-Namin, Kaveh, Wagner, Daniel, Walton, Rowana & Woodall, Lucy C, 2021, Reef benthos of Seychelles - A field guide, Biodiversity Data Journal 9, pp. 65970-65970 : 65970

Sinularia sp. indet.

Materials

Type status: Other material. Taxon: scientificName: Sinularia; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Cnidaria; class: Anthozoa; order: Alcyonacea; family: Alcyoniidae; genus: Sinularia; scientificNameAuthorship: May, 1898; Location: waterBody: Indian Ocean; country: Seychelles; locality: Aldabra N 1, Aldabra W 1, Alphonse N 1, D'Arros N 1, Desroches S 1, Poivre E 1 ; minimumDepthInMeters: 8.8 m; maximumDepthInMeters: 39.4 m; locationRemarks: First Descent : Seychelles Expedition ; Identification : identifiedBy: Nico Fassbender , Kaveh Samimi-Namin , Paris Stefanoudis ; dateIdentified: 2019, 2020; identificationRemarks: identified only from imagery; Event : samplingProtocol: Submersible OR Remotely Operated Vehicle OR SCUBA; Record Level: basisOfRecord: Human observation

Notes

Sinularia colonies have the largest morphological variation amongst all soft corals. Colonies form low tabular mounds that can have ridged or digitate surfaces. Growth forms can be low encrusting, branching, tall and lobed,or lead and dish-like. Colonies form finger-like projections. Polyps are fully retractable. In this survey, colonies were typically <50 cm across and their colouration ranged from grey and pale brown to pinkish and green. Similar species include Cladiella and Lobophytum , with C. and L. colonies typically having wider ridges between lobes (Fig. 31).