Leptogorgia punicea ( Milne Edwards & Haime, 1857 )

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 : 47-48

Leptogorgia punicea ( Milne Edwards & Haime, 1857)

( Figure 43 )

Gorgonia punicea Valenciennes, 1855:12 [Nomen nudum].

Gorgonia pumicea .— Milne Edwards and Haime 1857:160 [error of transcription].

Leptogorgia purpurea (part) Wright and Studer, 1889:151; Plate 29 fig. 1; Plate 34 fig. 3.

Leptogorgia pumicea .— Verrill 1912:399; Plate 33 fig. 10; Fig. 9 ; Plate 35 fig. 11.—Stiasny 1951:73.

? Leptogorgia studeri Verrill, 1912:400 .

Leptogorgia rathbunii Verrill, 1912:397 ; Plate 29 figs. 4–4a; Plate 33 fig. 11; Plate 35, figs. 9–9a.

? Leptogorgia diffusa Stiasny, 1951:71 ; Plate 20 fig. B; Plate 21 figs. 2–3.

not Leptogorgia diffusa .— Verrill 1868:397.

Lophogorgia punicea .— Bayer 1961:204; Figs. 61 a–h; 62 a–e; Plate VII fig. 6.

Leptogorgia punicea .— Cairns et al, 2002:35.

Material examined. USNM 60196, 60 m, off North Carolina, March 4, 1981 . SERTC S 2743, 20 m, Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary, off Sapelo Island, Georgia, May , 28, 2006 .

Remarks. Colonies of L. punicea display irregularly open pinnate branching and prominent polyp mounds which are in double rows on two sides of the branches. The largest of the examined specimens has a height 8 cm and the branches are 1 mm wide exclusive of polyp mounds. The sclerites consist of acute spindles and blunt capstans in the coenenchyme and flat, scalloped anthocodial rods. The spindles and flattened rods reach 0.12 mm in length and are roughly four times longer than wide and the blunt capstans are slightly shorter. The spindles and capstans are reddish orange and the anthocodial rods are pink. The color of the colony is generally purple or reddish purple.

Smaller colonies of this species may resemble Leptogorgia cardinalis or Leptogorgia miniata . L. miniata is not reported in this region, but specimens are easily distinguished from L. punicea by examining the anthocodial rods, which are significantly larger than the largest spindles. L. cardinalis has less curvature to the branches, less prominent polyp mounds, and slender, more acute spindles than L. punicea .

Atlantic distribution: North Carolina , 62–105 m ; Georgia , 20 m ; Gulf of Mexico , 23 m ; southern Florida , 27–73 m ; Venezuela to Brazil, 1–69 m ( Bayer 1961; NMNH collection; SERTC collection).

Figures

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

FIGURE 43. Leptogorgia punicea: A, sclerites (USNM 61096); a–c) spindles from coenenchyme; d) capstan from coenenchyme; e–g) anthocodial rods (scale bar = 0.02 mm); B, branch (preserved specimen, S2743; scale bar = 1 cm).