Junceella juncea ( Pallas, 1766 )

Ramvilas, Ghosh, Alderslade, Philip & Ranjeet, Kutty, 2023, The taxonomy of Indian gorgonians: an assessment of the descriptive records of gorgonians (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Alcyonacea) recorded as occurring in the territorial waters of India, along with neighbouring regions and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and the highlighting of perceived unethical practice, Zootaxa 5236 (1), pp. 1-124 : 93-94

Junceella juncea ( Pallas, 1766)

Gorgonia juncea Pallas, 1766: 180–181 (Indian Ocean) .

Opinion: It is not possible to determine if this species occurs in the region.

Justification:

These Indian records seem to be either invalid or unconfirmable: Thomson & Crane 1909: 133, fig. 14 (Beyt Island, Poshetra); Thomson & Crane 1909a: 365–366 (Beyt Island, Poshetra – same material); Thomas & George 1986: 109, fig. 1r, 1&2 (SW coast; Gulf of Mannar); Mary & Lazarus 2004: 40, fig. 20&21 (SW coast); Varghese et al. 2007: 15, fig. 8 (Gulf of Mannar); Bhagirathan et al. 2008: 370, fig. 3a (Veraval); Mary et al. 2011: 8, 15A–B (SW coast); Fernando 2011: 113–114, pl. 72, fig. 1–1k (SE coast); Kumar et al. 2014a: 24, pl. 9, fig. A–C (Andaman and Nicobar Is.); Sivaleela & Padmanabhan 2015: 27, pl. 2, fig. 11 (Gulf of Mannar); Fernando et al. 2017: 254, pl. 118, fig. A–C (SE coast).

Literature analysis: This species was originally described by Pallas as Gorgonia juncea from the Indian Ocean and the type material is probably no longer in existence. As Bayer & Grasshoff (1994) stated, “nothing is known of this frequently reported species apart from its whiplike growth form and red colour …It is likely that most accounts of Junceella juncea are composites, as are Simpson’s (1910) and Kükenthal’s (1924). Nutting (1910d) reported red, yellow, and white specimens, so he almost certainly had more than one species before him”.

Despite the lack of details about this taxon’s characters and origin, Grasshoff assigned material from New Caledonia (1999) and from the Red Sea (2000) to this species, figuring the surface clubs as having different sculpturing on the head in both occurrences, relying more, it would seem, on the extreme length of the clubs (up to 0.12 mm).

Of the Indian records, less than a third presented sclerite illustrations. Those in Thomas & George (1986) and Mary & Lazarus (2004) are rather rudimentary, those in Fernando (2011) are so small that the detail cannot be seen, and those in Kumar et al. (2014a) and Fernando et al. (2017), whose illustrations are identical, are somewhat similar to those in Grasshoff (2000), which they include as a synonym. In the 1999 description of Junceella juncea by Grasshoff, the club heads have very poorly developed tubercles and look quite different, and this record is not included as a synonym. These rather smooth sclerites, however, are rather similar to those figured by Kumar et al. (2014a) and Fernando et al. (2017) in the description of material assigned to Junceella eunicelloides . It should be noted that in the description of Junceella juncea by Kumar et al. (2014a) and Fernando et al. (2017) the second sclerite from the left in their figure also occurs in modified form in their description of Dichotella gemmacea . Of addition note is that the colony figured by Sivaleela & Padmanabhan (2015) has multiple branches and is quite unusual. Venkataraman et al. (2004) just listed the species, while Kumar et al. (2016: PY-P) just lists the species and figure a colony.

Given that the form of the sclerites of this species are unknown, there is no way of telling if any of the Indian records (or, indeed, any other published records) actually involve this species.