Chrysogorgia elegans ( Verrill, 1883 )

Cordeiro, Ralf T. S., Castro, Clovis B. & Pérez, Carlos D., 2015, Deep-water octocorals (Cnidaria: Octocorallia) from Brazil: Family Chrysogorgiidae Verrill, 1883, Zootaxa 4058 (1), pp. 81-100 : 85

Chrysogorgia elegans ( Verrill, 1883)

( Fig. 2 G)

Dasygorgia elegans Verrill, 1883: 23 .

Dasygorgia spiculosa Verrill, 1883: 23 –24 (in part: BL-44, 1 of 2 specimens; BL-195, 1 of 2 specimens; BL-205, 1 specimen)

Dasygorgia spiculosa: Wright & Studer, 1889: 9 –10, Pl. 4, Fig. 1 , Pl. 5, Fig. 1 .

Chrysogorgia affinis Versluys, 1902: 47 –48, figs. 64–65.— Kükenthal, 1919: 521; 1924: 396.— Deichman, 1936: 221 –222.— Bayer, 1959: 29.

Chrysogorgia elegans: Versluys, 1902: 61 .—not Nutting, 1908: 590.— Kükenthal, 1919: 533, Fig. 234; 1924: 405.— Deichman, 1936: 231 –232, in part: Pl. 23, Figs. 53–59: BL-44 (in part), BL-195 (in part), BL-205, BL283; not Pl. 33, Fig. 1 (= C. spiculosa ).— Bayer, 1952: 189; 1954: 280 (listed); 1956: F216, Fig. 155, 3a-c, 158,6; 1958: 389, 390 (listed).— Grygier, 1984: 143 (Oregon-548).— Grygier, 1990: 667.— Cairns, 2001: 760 -764 (synonymy), Figs. 3 , 4 .— Silva & Pérez, 2002: 18, Tab. 1 .— Lumsden et al. 2007: 188, 305, 352.— Cairns & Bayer, 2009: 329.— Chacón-Gómez et al., 2010: 438 - 441, Figs. 6 and 7 .— Chacón-Gómez et al., 2012: 204, Tab. 2 .

Chrysogorgia agassizii: Deichmann, 1936 : in part (pl. 34, figs. 1–2).

Chrysogorgia sp. Grygier, 1984: 143 (P-781); Castro et al., 2006: 170 (in part: MNRJ 4189 and MNRJ 4211)

Types: Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard, MCZ 4860

Type locality: 13°05’05”N, 59°40’50”W (west coast of Barbados), 433 m depth. Other paralectotypes, see Cairns, 2001.

New records: MNRJ 4189, 13°24'58"S, 38°38'16"W, 727–801 m (3 fragments); MNRJ 4211, 13°24'58"S, 38°38'16"W, 727–801 m (3 colonies); MNRJ 5966, REVIZEE Bahia (Thalassa RV), unknown depth (1 colony); MNRJ 6785, 20°00’01”S, 38°22’03”W (Besnard Bank, Brazil), 666 m depth, one colony.

Diagnosis (based on Cairns, 2001): Colony bottlebrush, wiry, up to 16 cm in height, with branching sequence 2/5R and a rhizoidal holdfast. Distance between branches is 1.0– 1.5 mm and orthostiche interval between 7.0 and 7.5 mm. First internode from 6 to 8 mm long, with usually one polyp. Presence of 1–3 internodes per branch, usually 2. Body wall of polyps and tentacular sclerites with rotund rods longitudinally arranged, 0.44–0.65 in length. Coenenchymal scales up to 0.65 mm long. Pinnular and distal tentacle sclerites rectangular to mediallyconstricted scales 0.12–0.20 mm in greater length and 0.0– 0.05 mm in width and with faces sparsely ornamented and edges finely serrate.

Remarks: The description given by Cairns (2001) dispenses additional comments on Brazilian specimens, once the author had considered the synonym C. affinis Versluys, 1902 , previously reported to Brazil, after examining the holotype. The specimens examined herein shows no discrepancies with the descriptions of specimens examined by Cairns (2001). The previously known distribution of the species in Brazil was limited to the coast of Pernambuco State (09°05’S, 34°50´W). In this study, the latitudinal distribution is expanded about 1250 km to the south (20°00’S).

Cairns (2001) refers to the records of C. elegans in the eastern Atlantic mentioned by Thomson, 1972 (as C. flexilis ), Tixier-Durivault & d´Hondt, 1974, and Grasshoff, 1986 (off Azores, Cape Verde, Bay of Biscay and off Morocco) as doubtful because “none of the specimens on which these reports were based was illustrated or described, nor have I examined them.” Therefore, these localities are not in the “distribution” range indicated here.

Distribution: Western Atlantic Ocean: Northern Gulf of Mexico, Little Bahama Bank, southeastern Caribbean throughout Lesser Antilles to border of Colombia and Panama, and off Pernambuco to Espirito Santo States, Brazil. Eastern Atlantic? ( Cairns, 2001; Cairns & Bayer, 2009; Chacón-Gómez et al., 2012; present study); 128– 1716 m depth.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Map of collection stations of Chrysogorgiidae in Brazil.

FIGURE 2. Deep-water Chrysogorgiidae from Brazil. A: holotype of Chrysogorgia upsilonia sp. nov. (MNRJ 6016); B: holotype of Chrysogorgia tuberculata sp. nov. (MNRJ 8565); C: Chrysogorgia multiflora Deichmann, 1936 (MOUFPE-CNI 147); D: Paratype of Chrysogorgia upsilonia (MNRJ 6016); E: juvenile colony of Chrysogorgia fewkesi Verrill, 1883 (MNRJ 6703); F: adult colony of C. fewkesi (MOUFPE-CNI 148); G: Chrysogorgia elegans (MNRJ 6785); H: holotype of Radicipes kopelatos sp. nov. (MNRJ 8566). Scale bars: 10 mm.

FIGURE 3. Sclerites of Chrysogorgia fewkesi Verrill, 1883 (MOUFPE-CNI 201). A: spindles from body wall; B: tentacular spindles; C: coenenchymal scales; D: pinnular scale. Scale bars: A, B: 0.10 mm; C, D: 0.10 mm.

FIGURE 4. Sclerites of Chrysogorgia tuberculata sp. nov. (MNRJ 8565). A: polyp view; B: spindles from body wall; C: coenenchymal scales from branches; D: scales from main stem; E: scales from tentacles. Scale bars: A: 1.0 mm; B: 0.11 mm; C – E: 0.05 mm.

FIGURE 6. Sclerites of Chrysogorgia upsilonia sp. nov. (MNRJ 6016). A: polyp view; B: spindles from body wall; C: coenenchymal scales; D: tentacular scales. Scale bars: A: 1.0 mm; B: 0.05 mm; C – D: 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 7. Drawing of the variability of sclerites of Chrysogorgia upsilonia sp. nov. A: spindles from body wall; B: coenenchymal scales; C: tentacular scales. Scale bars: A: 0.05 mm; B – C: 0.1 mm.